Shippo looked over the tiny little doll like woman-child that was presented to him by his old friend as Touga introduced them. "Shippo, Kagome. Kagome, this kitsune demon and idiot is one of my closest friends, Shippo. He own this hotel and is has been helping plan our hasty wedding."

Kagome didn't move, she didn't even seem to be breathing, really. Something that might have worried the two demons if not for the fact that she finally seemed to collect herself and gave Shippo a slightly strained smile as she said. "Hi."

Shippo gave her a slow smile as he reached out a gently took both of her hands in his and held them as he did his usual once over, whenever he met someone new. It was how he picked up small details. Details like...the fact that Touga's fiancé was feeling a tad bit uncomfortable and was trying to resist the urge to squirm under his gaze.

And then there was also the fact that she was pupped. Though her stomach was just barely beginning to show the signs of her pregnancy, making him think that the pup was either developing at a slower rate than normal or she had previous health issues that had affected it in some way.

He made a mental note to tell Touga to take her to the doctor and get checked out just in case. But later. Right now these two crazy kids were at his hotel to get hitched.

His eyes went back up towards her face, and paused for a moment when he suddenly saw the reason why Touga was so insistent on marrying/mating the girl. There, just barely peeking out from the collar of her shirt- was a possession mark.

Upon seeing this, Shippo's expression darkened slightly as he locked eyes with Touga's girl.

Now he wasn't stupid. Not by a long shot, he knew that Touga hadn't placed that fucking mark on her. For starters, he was too damn honorable. And secondly- he'd lost his thirst for power and conquest hundreds upon hundreds of years ago.

Not only that, but he was just too goddamn nice.

He secretly read Women's magazines for god's sake! And no, Shippo would never tell Touga that he knew that- the inu might spare him death because they were friends, but that wouldn't stop him from kicking his ass if he opened his mouth any.

Besides, everyone in the demon community knew that possession marks- when seen upon someone's skin- usually meant that it was forced on them by a rogue youkai. This was especially true when it came to the women that bore the marks.

And because the mark stripped them of everything but what their master allowed, the women usually wound up raped, abused, sold into prostitution until either their body succumbed to old age, injuries, bad health, illness or murder/suicide.

Forcing his expression for relax again, Shippo gave Kagome a kind smile as he said, "Well aren't you a pretty little thing, my friend is one lucky dog."

Kagome blushed a little bit at his flattering words and stammered out a quiet, 'thank you' as Touga took a moment to ask. "Have you started setting up the ballroom for the wedding?"

"Yes." Shippo said as he released Kagome's hands and let her drop her arms back to her sides.

"Which ballroom are we using?"

"The one with the dome stain glass ceiling."

"And the priest preforming the ceremony has been contacted?"

"Yup. He's already here. Last I checked he was eating something before the big event."

"Are there any photographers?" Touga asked, to be honest he had been debating on whether or not he wished this to be made public. If so- he had a stipulation. Any pictures of Kagome's face couldn't be leaked to the press. He would not have some greedy asshole undo all of his hard planning but letting his son see on the news that he had married Kagome.

Because then he would know everything and would likely try to pull something before he could be dealt with.

And that was something that Touga would not tolerate.

"There's one. I hired him since he's a friend of mine from my old school days."

"Is he trustworthy?" Touga demanded to know.

"I wouldn't have hired him if he wasn't." Shippo replied. To which Touga nodded his head before asking about the decorations, and everything else.

Shippo went on to tell him that almost everything was set. The flowers had been delivered to the hotel about an hour ago along with the dresses, the tuxes, the decorations, and the 'mood' music. The only thing that Shippo hadn't been a hundred percent certain about was what sort of reception to put together.

What foods and drinks would Touga and Kagome like? Or prefer?

When he asked, Touga looked at Kagome for a moment and then stated that they should have a little bit of everything with the exception of wine. Alcohol wasn't allowed due to Kagome's condition.

Not long before Kagome was dragged off by the kitsune, Touga went around the car and fetched the box with the pearl, apatite and white and diamond choker and handed it to Shippo so that he could slip the choker out of it's box and then took a moment or so to fasten it around Kagome's throat and then kissed her shoulder before walking off so that Shippo could do his job.

He needed to check into the hotel and send their bags up and then pick a tux and ready himself to greet his son and Kikyo when they arrived, which would be soon since he doubted that either of them would miss this even for anything in the world.

(************************************************************************************************************************************)

"Alright so- We have some last minute details that I just didn't feel right about since this isn't my wedding, so I want you to look at the flowers I got for a few displays. I got the white lilies and the bachelor buttons but there was next to no blue flowers- but I managed to track down some cool specimens that I thought that you might like. I got enough for two large displays, some smaller ones, your bridal bouquet, plus some extra to put in your hair."

"After that, I need you to check out a couple food dishes and see what you would like for the wedding and then you'll pick out your gown and put it on and then have your hair and make-up done." Shippos said in a rush as he led Kagome to a medium sized room that looked like a meeting room of sorts that was packed in one corner with flowers, and another with food, while some white/cream/ivory/off eggshell gowns of different designs all hung on a rack with a various assortment of accessories ranging from rhinestone decorated headbands, gloves, and veils.

Walking by the rack of dresses, Kagome barely paused long enough to fully scan it before she found her ideal dress and pulled it from the rack and laid it down on the table across from the rack. It was a breathtaking pure white Chinese style low collar, satin and intricate lace short sleeved top with a heart shaped opening just a little bit below the neckline, and a nice small dip in the back that barely went past her shoulders, with an empire waist, a floor length free flowing skirt.

She didn't bother with a veil or any other accessories since Shippo had collected some flowers to put into her hair. So she would just have that done when her hair and make-up was done.

Shippo stood a foot or so from her and watched her.

Noticing that she was picking things that were nice, yet would be less of a hassle to deal with. The dress was nice. And would definitely suit her. And while her back was turned, he picked her a pair of nice slip on white shoes with three inch heels since he didn't think Touga would like his pupped fiancé walking across a freshly waxed floor in stiletto's where it would be easy for her to slip and get injured.

That would be a sucky wedding in Shippo's opinion. And certainly not one that he wanted any part of.

By the time he had finished picking out Kagome's shoes to match her dress and turned around, she had already picked some blue flowers to go with the others and had even set some aside to be used for her hair and had moved on to the food and was taste testing each dish.

Frankly he wondered if perhaps she might be hungry, but after trying one bite of each dish she picked four of them and set them apart from the others and then turned to him and told him that they should have strawberry lemonaid to drink at the wedding, some fresh garden salad, and pasta salad to go with the dishes that she picked out.

And then requested some pitted black olives, peanut butter, chai spice, anchovies and cookie dough ice cream.

Apparently trying a bite of each of the food dishes that he'd set aside for her to try had indeed made her hungry.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************)

Touga had just finished coming down from his suite wearing the tux that he had picked out for his wedding to Kagome. Deciding to go with a nice slate grey tux with a crisp white shirt and a slate grey tie, when Inuyasha stepped up to the desk and glanced over at him the second he noticed him and waved and called out, "Hey dad."

Causing Touga to smile as he walked over to his son and took a second to note that Kikyo and whoever else was supposed to be present was strangely missing.

"Hello Inu. Where is Kikyo?"

"She's..." Inuyasha started to say, off killing someone, however stopped himself and simply said. "Around." There was no point in telling his dad that she had probably beating the hell out of something right now.

Touga hummed but didn't comment. Figuring that it was probably for his own good that he didn't know anything about what Kikyo was doing. That way when she was finally put under arrest he could deny anything and everything.

Yay deniable plausibility!

"Who all did you manage to get to come?"

"Well, we swung by the shrine after leaving the house and asked Kagome's mom and brother if they wanted to come with, but the old man was being a pain in the ass so," Inuyasha reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a little square box and handed it to his dad as he said, "Kagome's mom sent those. Their some pearl earrings. The same ones that her mother wore at her wedding and Kagome's ma wore at her wedding too. She said it was a Higurashi tradition to wear them for good luck."

Opening the box to peek at the earrings curiously, Touga smiled at the antique fourteen carat white gold and two ivory pearl dangle earrings.

"They are very lovely, I'm sure that Kagome will love having them." Touga said as he closed the box and slipped it in his jacket pocket.

Inuyasha nodded as he finished signing in before turning back to his dad, "I thought so too. Her mom also wanted me to ask, if there's going to be any pictures? She was wanting some, is so. And I brought my camera to video the event just in case you didn't want actual pictures. That way she could have a copy of the video."

"That's really sweet of you, son."

"Tsk. Whatever old man. As for who came with me- I brought Miroku and Sango and Bankotsu since they all work with me on the police force and were also helping me look for her after Kikyo asked us to look into her disappearance."

"You mean that you and your friends were looking for her?"

"Well of course! Kagome is important to each of us. She helped me accept myself as I am. She helped Bankotsu get off drugs when we were in school," Touga looked at his son, his gold eyes wide and showing his surprise as Inuyasha continued. "I mean she straight up kidnapped him and held him hostage for two months. And trust me when I say that seeing him go through with drawl wasn't pretty. He hit her more than once and broke her things... But dad he's always regretted it."

"She helped Miroku and Sango hook up after both of them suffered some really heavy losses when both of their families died. She was there for Kikyo when she was younger- She's just like the sun. So bright and warm and cheerful. I can't imagine anyone being such an- an sick motherfucker- and hurting her like Sesshomaru did."

"I-I have nightmares about what happened to her now. Especially after reading her medical file. I keep imagining how scared she was, how weak he made her feel, and how horribly he hurt her. I keep imagining her screaming and crying and begging for someone to help her-" Inuyasha was becoming distressed now, his hands going up to pull at his hair in an subconscious gesture of anxiousness, however the moment he started to pull at his hair, Touga reached out and grabbed his wrists and forced his hands away and he shook him slightly.

"Snap out of it Inuyasha! What happened is tragic and never should have occurred, however- Kagome escaped. She's alive. She's healthy and sane, and still smiles and laughs. And tonight I will not only take her as my wife but my mate, and when I do- she will be beyond your fool brother's reach. I will see to her safety and wellbeing everyday from this day forward. Now stop freaking out on me." Touga hissed as he slowly released his son.

Inuyasha took several deep breaths to calm himself and then asked, "Are you nervous about mating her?"

Touga tried not to flinch at the question. Truly he did.

But as it was, knowing Sesshomaru as he did- he wasn't sure if an un-intimate mating would deter him from attacking Kagome and attempting to kill her. And he had promised that he wouldn't force her into something that she wasn't ready for because he didn't want her to think that he was the same as Sesshomaru.

Sadistic and cruel.

However as much as he was fairly certain that a true mating would protect her far more, he hadn't had the chance to bring up the topic while driving to the hotel earlier.

"Yes..." Touga finally said.

"Worried that she might not want a true mating?"

Touga looked away and tried to pretend to be interested in something else as Inuyasha chuckled softly before saying. "If she's as sane as you say she is- she'll want a true mating dad. Just be sure to ask her first and follow her lead if you feel uncertain about anything else."

"You seem very sure-"

"Dad! Trust me, Kagome is a trooper. If a true mating is what you both agree is needed to protect her and the pup- she'll go through with it. I know that you will take things slow and show her the right way to treat a lady."

His son had a point there. Kagome was a survivor. If going through a true mating just once this night was what they both deemed necessary- then he had no doubt that she wouldn't balk. And in return, he would treat her properly.

He would give her so much pleasure that she cried from it.

"You're right son, thank you." Touga said as he glanced around and paused when his eyes landed on a clock on the wall across the lobby. His eyes widening a fraction as he quickly shooed Inuyasha off to get ready and make sure that the others were ready as well.

He still had to do something with his claws and hair and he would be set to marry his Kagome in twenty more minutes.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************)

Fifteen minutes later-

Kagome had just finished washing her hands and face after eating a small snack, curtesy of Shippo and his wonderful kitchen staff, before she bothered to dress herself in the lovely form fitting dress that she had picked out. While across the room, an elderly woman named Kaede was making the flower arrangements for the wedding.

She had already made two large ones, and at least half a dozen smaller ones that had then been taken off to be set into place in the ballroom while she finished up arranging Kagome's bridal bouquet while snipping some of the stems on the small clusters of blue tea roses that Kagome had picked out.

By the time she was done, Shippo had snitched her shears and was snipping at the stems of a few blue roses while a couple of girls came in to do her hair, nails and make-up while Kaede put the finishing touches on her bouquet.

All in all it took less than three minutes for doll her up since there wasn't much in the way of make-up that Kagome needed to make her look good. Just some light pink eye shadow, soft pink blush and some lip gloss and the girl looked like she could give a much younger Carmen Electra and a majority of Hugh Heff's playboy bunnies a run for their damn money.

Honestly Kagome looked beyond breathtakingly stunning.

She looked downright otherworldly.

Especially once her hair was completely finished. Again, there wasn't much needed to doll her up. The women had thought that she would look good with some of her long dark hair pulled back and put into a bun while the rest fell around her neck, shoulders and back in gorgeous spirals.

After which the blue roses and some pink bachelor buttons were placed in her hair around the bun along with some sprigs of babys breath.

"Holy- Wow." Shippo said as he stared at Kagome with a look of absolute adoration on his face as he grinned. Damn but Touga was one lucky dog! Seriously, if not for the fact that the two of them were such good friends- he'd totally be trying to steal Kagome from the inu.

It didn't even matter to him that she bore a possession mark or was pupped. He'd mate her in a heart beat and raise her kid too. Hell he'd even volunteer himself for permanent diaper duty!

"Wow," Shippo said again as Kagome sat down for a moment to put on the shoes that he had laid out to match her dress. "You look amazing! Touga is going to drool all over himself when he sees you." Shippo said as she finally slipped on the second shoe and then sighed.

"Thanks." She said with a blush before asking what time it was as Shippo handed her her bridal bouquet as he checked the time on his watch and almost swore.

"It's five minute till show time. We should start heading over now."

"Alright." Kagome said as she slowly got to her feet and waited for Shippo to lead the way when he simply offered her his arm and asked,

"May I have the honor of escorting you miss?" Causing Kagome's lips to twitch slightly in wry amusement as she took his arm and let him lead her out of the room.

(***************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Touga stood in the ballroom waiting as patiently as possible for his mate-to-be to appear and looked down at his hands for what seemed like the millionth time in the past minute to check the length of his claws again.

And he had to say, Shippo's minions had impressed him when he had gone to them and asked for their help with shortening and blunting his claws for the next few weeks so that he didn't accidentally wind up injuring Kagome's- er...feminine channel like his heartless asshole of a son had.

God knew that his son had scarred her body, heart and mind enough- he didn't want to add anymore new ones due to a simple oversight.

Still... Shippo's minions had been very thorough. Clipping, and then filing his claws down to perfect ovals that barely went past his fingertips and then brushing on a potion similar to clear nail polish onto his claws to prevent his them from growing back out for the next few weeks.

And his hair- to be perfectly honest he had never in a hundred years thought that there would be another day where he wore his hair up in a high ponytail like he had back when he had been a lord during the feudal era.

"Alright, everyone is ready- The priest is..." He muttered to himself as he looked around and saw Kikyo had cornered the man going to marry him to her cousin and shivered before quickly abandoning the male to his fate. "The decorations are all in place-" He muttered as he scanned the ballroom, taking not of the tasteful flowers and other things that Shippo had put up to make the ballroom look absolutely amazing. Touga had to give the demon props- if he ever decided to quite the hotel business, he would do remarkably well as a wedding planner. "The reception area is fixed up and ready to go."

The reception area was across the same spacious ballroom that he and Kagome were to be married in. And while that usually wasn't the way of things, Touga suspected it had to do more with convenience due to Kagome's pregnancy. Which was fine with Touga since it seemed rather senseless to use two rooms.

Especially when one of the rooms was already claimed by him and the other was probably claimed by someone else.

Glancing around the room again, his gaze landed on the person that Shippo had hired to take pictures of the wedding. He had spoken to the male earlier before the priest and everyone else had shown up to wait on his bride. The male was indeed a decent sort and understood very well what was considered acceptable and what wasn't.

Touga also understood that the male was having some financial difficulty and was trying to get some extra money so that he could help out his two year old son who was currently in the hospital with a rare form of cancer. And was in desperate need of treatment so that he could get well again. Touga could understand where the man was coming from.

After all- if either Kagome or the pup ever wound up in the hospital he would do anything and everything possible to help them become well again.

Which was just part of the reason why Shippo had hired him. The other reasons had to do with his trustworthiness and his professionalism.

Turns out the man was the owner of a rather decently sized photography business that often did wedding photos, anniversaries, birthday parties- and even occasionally did work for museums and even offered classes to school students interested in the same line of work.

So Touga had made a deal with the man. He followed the rules that the inu had set about some of the photo's and the pictures that didn't have Kagome's face in them could be sold to the one of the local papers. After which Touga would wire five million dollars to the man's account to help him with his son's treatments.

The man had questioned him at first, disbelieving of the offer. But Touga was able to put his fears to rest and by the time he had concluded their talk and gotten the man's information- he was startled when the man practically launched himself at him and hugged him as he broke down crying.

Touga had held himself perfectly still, the scent of the male's relief and happiness mingling with the scent of his tears as he quickly pulled himself together and released the inu with several apologies.

Touga had merely shook his head as he walked away from him, understanding now why Shippo was friends with him. The two shared a common trait of launching themselves at others and doing weird stuff. Still, he was happy to help out if he could. And he was sure that Shippo would appreciate it as well.

Finally, his thoughts were interrupted by the lights of the room being dimmed as the wedding march began to play and Touga turned anxious eyes towards the door as Inuyasha and everyone else scrambled to get into place. And barely a minute later Kagome entered the room and stole Touga's heart all over again.

Ignoring the grins and happy smiles of their family and friends, the two only seemed to have eyes for each other as Kagome walked up to the make shift alter and took her place across from Touga as the priest opened his mouth to begin the ceremony only to be interrupted by Inuysha as he quickly dug out the box with the pearl earrings and presented them to Kagome.

"Your mom and brother couldn't be here today. So I was told to deliver these for luck." He said as she handed her bouquet off to Sango and took the earrings and put them on and then took back her flowers and thanked her friend as he reclaimed his spot next to his father and let the priest begin the ceremony.

And barely fifteen minutes later, Touga and Kagome were proclaimed husband and wife. After which, Touga reached out and grasped Kagome's wrist in one hand and then pulled her into his arms and gave her a fanged smile before claiming her lips with a tender kiss.