InuYasha had been in the stupid, as Darren had put it; "monkey suit" for a good three and a half hours now, and he was ready to throw in the towel and break his way out of it.
To make matters worse, he was actually doing this in front of people, which he was finding to be an insult.
And the cherries on the cake, to add the final insult to injury, he was wearing shoes, and a hat so ridiculous that he was very much ready to throw to the ground and tread upon several times none too delicately.
Shoes was something he looked upon as an extreme hinderance, as moving through the trees and general feudal era was easier without them, and it grew to to the point that he found them completely in contempt.
Nonetheless, here he stood, in front of a crowd of people, in that same church, with Darren to his left, the short guy, Steve, to his right, and a white flower stuck in his jacket with a smell that was making him feel vaguely nauseous.
'Don't look so down, InuYasha,' Darren said in an undertone to him, leaning over a little. 'Before you know it, the girls'll be out, Tsuki and George will be married, and we'll all be wasted at the reception tonight.'
George was standing up the front, next to the minister, looking very pale, wringing his hands nervously, and kept twitching oddly, like he wanted to run his hands through his carefully combed hair, but would decide otherwise halfway through that thought.
Steve was looking a little sorry for himself, courtesy of the disappointed looks Darren kept shooting him.
InuYasha had discovered the promising beginning and the nighmareish end to the stag night, where Steve had planned for clubbing, and drinking, having bought VIP tickets to a respected club, however effectively ruining the evening by going against orders and hiring some young women to come and "dance for them", as Darren had delicately put it.
InuYasha tugged at his cuffs uncomfortably, irritated at the effort required not to break the stitching or the buttons that so restricted his wrists, and limiting his movement in the whole ensemble that reminded him how much he appreciated the freeness of his usual outfit.
Though heavy, it was very easy to move around in, and there was always bonus of the suit of armour included.
Just thinking about it made him want to leap through those close-knit branches of a forrest, his feet bare and his sword at his side, the gentle, earthy smell wafting through the air, the wind streaming past him, and the quiet sounds of nature around him, or, at the very least, he wanted to swing his arms in a complete circle, despite the restrictive shirts complaints.
Over in the corner of the hall behind the four men were were three women and two men , that were either seated or standing, all were wearing black, and were all (bar one, who was holding a metal flute,) either holding or seated before them was the strangest looking things InuYasha had seen in a while, all were various sizes of the same thing, which was a wooden object, that was sort-of-not-really oval shaped, with a handle sticking off of the end, with strings running down the length of it.
The largest of which was the same height as Darren, and the smallest was about the length from InuYasha's shoulder to his wrist, which was held (what seemed to be) awkwardly up against the users chin, and the strings were to be rubbed with a whole bunch of strings that almost smelt like horse hair.
He soon discovered the strange things to be musical instruments, as far as he could tell, as when the horse-hair strings were rubbed perpendicularly against the strings on the objects, noise was created, as the group adjusted the strings slightly, altering the pitch on slight levels so they aligned and made harmony with professional precision.
Looking down the aisle, he saw the wide open doors at the rear of the hall, which were large beyond both logic and practicality in his opinion, and the small rush of people that hurried this way and that for last-minute preparations, before they hurried into the back of the hall, joining the crowd that sat in the long, wooden, and uncomfortable looking seats, and a portly-looking old man leaned around the corner of one of the doors and waved.
There was a bustling behind him, and he looked around, to see the old guy in white organise (and compose) himself, then waved his book at the musicians behind InuYasha, who nodded, and struck up a grander-sounding version of the tune he had heard play at the rehearsal, and InuYasha was mildly surprised at how rich they sounded, particularly the larger ones, whose length would have been up to InuYasha's chin, or larger.
'Here they come.' Darren muttered, as everyone in the hall fell silent, and turned to look at the larger-than-necessary doors, where the portly man had disappeared from sight, but in his place was Souta, looking proud as anything, doing his absolute best not to run up the aisle, but still heading slightly too quickly to be in time with the beat. He was quickly followed by the short haired girl called Erica was painfully slowly walking up the aisle, in a pink dress that only had one shoulder, her head held high, and a white bouquet in her gloved hands.
InuYasha just waited, his eyes fixed on the doors behind the girl, his ears acutely listening to the flute player, waiting for it to swell.
As soon as the short-haired girl was about a third of the way up the aisle, Kagome appeared, just in time for the flute to waver and crescendo, and InuYasha felt like he'd been hit with something extremely heavy.
She was wearing the same dress as the Erika girl, however her hair was spilling over her bare shoulder, her eyes fixed rather solidly on a point on the floor, a light dusting of pink was on her cheeks.
He had to bite his lip, he wanted to call out to her, to get her to look up, but he felt a nudge from next to him.
'Easy, tiger,' came a voice, but he did not look around, his eyes only for the girl slowly walking towards them.
Kagome stumbled ever so slightly, and she turned a deep shade of red, looking up and around, at the small crowd of people around her, as if to see who noticed, but they were all distracted, as the long-haired girl, Cara, had appeared behind them.
Kagome looked forward her eyes searching, before they rested on InuYasha, who was suddenly glad they were inside and away from sharp gusts of wind, as he was suddenly feeling wobbly.
She looked away briefly, turning an even darker shade, but then looked back, and a shy smile spread across her lips, and suddenly, all of those minor irritations to him felt just that; minor, compared to the bigger picture.
He crossed his arms behind his back, balling his hands into fists, as he watched her take to the steps, and take her place next to the girl whose name he had forgotten, letting out what was obviously a nervous breath.
She looked up at him then, smiled slightly, looking tense, then looked back around towards the doors, where the music made a crescendo and the bride, Tsuki, appeared, dressed all in white, holding the portly man's arm, a thin, white veil covering her face.
InuYasha looked away, and up at the sandy-haired groom, George, who looked, simply put, dazed.
Tsuki made her way slowly in time with the music, her eyes only for the man at the front, until she made her way up the stone steps, and the man who must have been her father gave her hand to George, kissed his daughter, and went to find his seat at the front of the church, sitting next to who must have been her misty-eyed mother.
Later, InuYasha would swear blind that he merely blinked, and suddenly the couple at the front kissed, then turned to the cheering crowd, and the formation broke, as the crowd came up and surrounded the couple, InuYasha was suddenly swamped with people.
As far as he saw, the couple were getting pulled this way and that, for hugs, and kisses, and hearty slaps on the back, InuYasha instead opted for (very nearly literally) swimming his way through the crowd, to where the bridesmaids had been standing only moments ago.
Despite the crowds best efforts, he found her moderately easily by her scent as soon as he ditched the horrible flower attached to his front, and tapped her on the shoulder.
'Kagome?' He said, and she looked up, a broad smile still up on her face. 'I love you,' he pulled her into his arms, flatly ignoring the pressing crowd around them, gazing down at her.
'I love you too.' She replied, kissing him, pressing herself as close as she could get.
I love writing these sort of chapters, can't you tell? But to shake it up a little, I thought I'd do it from InuYasha's perspective entirely, rather than the usual hovering between the two.
Thanks to nycorrall, katieykat and extra special thanks to AlyCat120, I feel all warm and fuzzy from that, thanks! :3
Please review!