Dying to Live
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
That was almost too easy, Sesshomaru thought to himself with a grim sort of humor that had lately become all too natural to him. From where he now hid, waiting to make his move, he thought back to the events of that morning.
Having slept little, the previous few nights racked with nightmares of suffocation or his and Rin's lifeless bodies scattered, lying atop a bed of rocks, he rose at first light. After bathing and dressing brusquely, even a bit carelessly, he tied his long, partially damp hair off to one side with a shred of linen and went down to take his usual Spartan breakfast.
The girl who served him had an unfortunately long, plain face that reflected few intelligent thoughts. Regardless, she appeared to be industrious and eager to please; he observed her going to and fro, not only serving the breakfast but also directing various guests according to their questions and collecting hand written receipts in exchange for room deposits at the door. She was the only one there to manage the inn apart from a small boy no more than seven years old, who played with a wooden samurai under a broken table in the corner. He waited for a quiet moment when she was only drying a clean tea set with a worn rag. He noted that the rag looked to be cut from the same piece of material as the faded red fabric square tied over her hair. He leaned forward and softly asked her, "Miss, sumimasen, I arrived in town late last night. I wonder whether you could tell me where I could find the half-demon Inuyasha and his friends?" He had tried to think back to how he had once been so suave and noble a lord among demons and attempted to put a little charm in his voice when he spoke. Inside, he couldn't help but feel a small rush of satisfaction when she blushed and moved closer to him, although he couldn't really consider attracting such a human to be much of a feat.
"Oh, ye mus' mean the full-demon, Inuyasha. My dear customer, they're all at his weddin' t'day, don'tche know?" she replied, all politeness.
Sesshomaru had to try hard not to wince at her accent, which was hopelessly common, almost crass. That, and it took him a moment digest the two surprising things he had just heard. First of all, 'the full-demon Inuyasha'? The simpleton! He inwardly scoffed and pretended to clear his throat to hide his indignation. It's obvious she doesn't know what she's talking about. The wedding, though… that could be useful…
"Well, of course," he said finally. He leaned a little closer toward her, being careful to make sure his bloodshot eye remained hidden behind his bangs, which had helpfully grown long and full over the months. He suppressed a wicked laugh, as he noticed her squirm a bit when a few locks of his hair slipped over his shoulder, though. Despite the fact that I find myself disgusting, fortunately the bumpkin apparently disagrees! he noted to himself, before going on. "But since I've only just arrived in town, I don't know where to go."
A rare thought apparently dawned on the girl, Sesshomaru decided, as he noticed her face suddenly brighten. "Ohhh! Ye must be Shippou-san! The friend Lady Kagome and Inuyasha've been waitin' fer!" she told him, and then wagging a finger continued, "Ye were 'spected last night, y'know. Lady Kagome was askin' the 'Eadman Arai las' night after ye! Now, I think the weddin' begins in jus' a few hours from now!"
"Can you tell me where to go?" he asked, barely maintaining his patience.
"Well, ye'll need the 'special key,'" she informed him. When he inclined his head in question, she lowered her voice another octave: "The village 'eadman's got it. Ye see, the weddin's in a secret place, and ye need the 'key' to go there." Then, she returned to normal volume, stood back up, and turned as if to go to the door. "But I can take ye straight to 'eadman Arai. Ken-kun! Look aft—"
Sesshomaru had held up one steadying palm, though, and the girl halted in her beckoning. The small boy, apparently named Ken, poked his head back under the table and returned his attention to his action figure. "That brings me to my other problem," he began, marveling at how well this plan was unfolding. "Being as I am very late in coming, I also don't yet have a wedding gift, and I'm afraid I'm running out of time—"
"Tha's not a problem, ye can go to the market. It's jus' down the road from 'ere – ye'll know it by the scent of livestock comin' from tha' way. Don' think ye'll find anything too special there, but Lady Kagome an' Inuyasha are nice people, an' you're their friend, so it won't matter," the girl reassured him. Then, just as he was about to remind her that his time was limited, like clockwork, she added, "An' Ken'll fetch the key while yer there!"
Coarse and plain though she may have been, he couldn't have found a more cooperative person to help him, Sesshomaru congratulated himself. Then, he walked with a bitter smile on his face to the market in search of something to disguise his sword.
An hour later, they met in the town square, and the girl led him into Inuyasha's Forest. Although she had advised him that they needed to hurry a bit because she had been forced to leave only Ken-kun in charge of the inn while she was gone, the girl still found time to offer her supposed tourist some background information. "So ye didn't know that this forest was named for 'im 'cause of all the years he hung tha' tree? People used to call it "Inuyasha's Forest" sorta unkind-like, but since Lady Kagome and their other friends – like you – came, people started likin' Inuyasha. An' now he's done a lot good here—although Lord Taka's none too happy about the shrine. But ye can't please everyone, now can ye?"
Sesshomaru couldn't make up his mind whether to be bored or not by this history, some of which he had unavoidably heard before. Most of what she said in her terrible, prattling, broken accent he didn't really feel the need to understand, though he did find it mildly fascinating that anybody could stand to be with his half-brother long enough to like him (not to mention, the quandary of what female would voluntarily mate herself to him confused him even more). Aside from that, he had never cared and still didn't care enough to know anything else about the cur. And with our relationship finally almost at a permanent end, why change now? he had thought dryly. He hn'ed lazily only to satisfy his helper that he was listening. Finally, they turned through a thicket of shrubs, and on the other side, there stood the Bone Eater's Well. He couldn't help recalling one rumor he'd heard over the years: So this is where my brother's wench first appeared.
They came to stand next to the well and then she handed it to him: the special key was flat and thin, sealed between two pieces of paper. He looked at it where it lay in his palm. A pattern of small blue arrows indicated that he should open it by pulling apart the papers. Between them, he found one of the most bizarre things he'd ever seen: a tan colored strip of unnaturally glossy material, rounded on two ends, and when two more layers of waxy paper were removed, it was sticky on one side with a soft square of white cotton in the center. It was nothing like a key in Sesshomaru's opinion. He held it gently between his fingers thinking about the most logical way to put it on and not look like he had never seen anything like it before. Finally, he fixed it carefully to the inside of his sleeve and stepped toward the well. Apparently, this had looked natural enough, so the little inn wench gave him a parting bow and turned back into the thicket of vegetation. Drawing in a breath, Sesshomaru looked into the well, where the light dropped off into blackness. He had nothing left to lose. He tugged on the strap of the long, cylindrical bamboo scroll tube he'd bought at the market in which to hide his sword. Then, tossing all care into the wind, he boosted himself over the edge and into the darkness within.
::
Just as she knew Sesshomaru had probably done barely two hours before in nearly the same spot, Rin gazed over the weathered wooden rim of the legendary Bone Eater's well and contemplated what lay within its deep, gaping, black mouth. Sesshomaru, she knew would never have stood for her present company, though. To her right, village headman Arai stood, wearily shaking his head. "This is really a very embarrassing, possibly very costly mistake," Headman Arai, said yet again, sounding more and more hollow with worry each time he repeated it. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what we should do…" he trailed, as to Rin's left, the long-faced inn maid, whom she learned was named Akimi, melted into another round of hopeless sobbing. Between the countless apologies and mournful crying anyone would have wondered which would drive Rin mad first; yet, our young heroine had luckily retreated deep into thought.
So close yet so far, a voice in her mind whispered, as she reached out to the well with every ounce of her mental power, as if in its magic, it might somehow transmit her thoughts to her beloved Lord Sesshomaru. As it was, she felt as though she could feel his essence all around her, somehow still freshly clinging to that spot in the cosmos, like a ghost hanging in time, and it drove her mad. She hung further over the well and let herself be flung into a distant memory in which she had come face-to-face with another dark pit while searching for her Lord Sesshomaru.
Not long after she first began to travel with him, they had come to stop in their daily travel deep within a forest in central Honshu. The great demonic Lord of the West (as she had recently learned was his title through his loyal servant Jaken's frequent and somewhat fawning praises) tacitly reminded the imp to assist Rin in looking after all of her nightly needs. Then, in his customarily aloof manner, he had stalked off into the growing evening shadows.
Still particularly unenthused about being charged with the demoted task of looking after what the little demon viewed as his master's human pet, Jaken snappily directed her in gathering fallen twigs and sticks for a fire and then hustled her uphill through several lines of tangled underbrush and scratchy brambles in the direction of a creek he could hear before she could. Not yet fully accustomed to negotiating her way around the imp's occasionally thorny personality and shrunken, stony little heart, Rin had nervously but quietly nodded when he ordered her to cleanse herself and then return to camp. Then, somewhat awkwardly, the little demon took his leave and hurried away into the brush, apparently anxious to leave before she started her evening ablutions.
Rin waited for a few minutes until she no longer heard Jaken's retreat through the crackling leaves. At that time it had been around mid-autumn and the days had been growing rapidly shorter. When at last, she stood totally alone beside the bubbling water, chilly night was coming on in earnest, and she hurried out of her clothes. She washed herself quickly, not only because the water was too cold for comfort; she also grew increasingly anxious about finding the way back to camp and prayed that if she left sooner she might have a better chance of remembering which way to go.
Finally, after dressing again and tossing her bath items into their little basket, she found she had already completely forgotten even the direction from which they'd approached the water, though. A panicked lump expanded in her throat, and she looked from here to there hoping to jog any memory.
Stumbling forward, she broke off hastily in the direction that she thought seemed most likely at that moment. She soon found herself practically sprinting and her breath running thin with fear. The dark branches were nearly fully blended in with the patches of moonless night sky between them. She halted for one terrible moment to glance around. She knew she should have made it back to the downhill slope leading to the campsite already, and her stomach started to turn sour just as a loud rustling and a terrible shriek-like creaking sound screamed down from the tree tops. With a shriek of her own, Rin had practically flung down the cumbersome basket of bath items and bolted in the opposite direction of the sound at top speed. Not even caring that her own crashing footsteps were the only sound she could hear, meaning that no one was chasing her, she tore through the trees getting more and more lost.
Without warning, the ground totally dropped away in front of her like she had actually been running toward the edge of the Earth. Rin's mind reeled, and she frantically wind-milled her arms. Her every muscle and brain cell screamed, LEAN BACK! LEAN BACK! Still, she couldn't stop from skidding right to the edge, and her toes hung over the cliff-line before the left over inertia mercilessly let her continue her forward pitch.
Then as if in slow motion, just as she was facing right into the bottom of the gorge—ready for a perfect belly flop onto the craggy rocks below—two arms, soundless as a ghost's, wrapped around her from behind.
Her death scream echoed back up at her out of the stony grave below when the arms pulled her gently back. His chest pressed solidly against the top of her shoulder blade. The fresh scent of pine wood, still clinging to him from his run through the forest, radiated coolly off of him. His fragrance fell over her along with a several waves of his moonlight silky tresses which brushed past her cheek as he leaned over her. She felt his chest rumble against her body, and then in her ear she heard, "Why were you running so quickly?"
Still feeling crazy enough from nearly dying, Rin could hardly think what to say, so instead she felt her cheeks burn hot with embarrassment. "If you thought you were lost, you weren't," his voice echoed through her again. "I knew right where you were. Now, let's go back." With that, he stood and released her. Still frozen with fear and shock, it took Rin a moment to turn and give her thanks. By the time she had spun and prepared to bow, though, his back was already turned and retreating into the dark brush.
"If you thought you were lost, you weren't. I knew right where you were.
I know right where you are too, Lord Sesshomaru, Rin thought, her mind returning to the present. And I'm not going to lose you! I just don't know how to get to you yet! She bit her lower lip and roughly raked her hand through her hair in an effort to focus some of her anxious energy. Every moment that she wasted, Sesshomaru would get closer to doing whatever horrible thing he had planned. So frustrating!
She was just squinting, as if it might allow her to actually see deep enough into the well to see all the way to its other magical side, when someone's voice caused Headmen Arai, Akimi, and finally Rin to look over their shoulders toward the forest.
"Excuse me, could you help me?" came the voice, cool, thin and reedy, like that of a young man just freshly coming into adolescence. However, there was also something attractive about the tone of the voice, and when everyone turned to look they found an unusually handsome youth coming toward them from the shadows of the trees. Of only medium height, but slender and graceful with delicate features and hair the color of sun-burnt copper swept up in a blue silken ribbon, there was something familiar and almost alarmingly alluring about him—something unsettlingly perfect about his face and form. Even his bright blue vest and trousers shone a little too brightly, without even a hint of the typical dust that clung to fabric that had travelled any distance outdoors. Then, there was the hint of mischievousness about his lively, dark leaf-green eyes; however, there didn't seem to be an ounce of maliciousness about him. Rather, he seemed to have more of a sweetly disarming innocence, as he opened his prefect pink lips to explain: "I'm a close friend of Lady Kagome and Inuyasha. I received word that they were getting married today, but I'm a little confused about where the wedding is."
Headman Arai's frown deepened a little and his brows knitted together. "And you would be?" he grunted guardedly.
"Oh!" the beautiful youth said, his lips forming a perfect "o" in an expression that showed that he seemed to think that he was forgetting himself a bit. "Oh, right, I'm Shippou! I'm the little kitsune demon who is usually always by Kagome's side—" he said, and then with a wave of one of his slender, white hands, he shrunk before their eyes into a short, adorable, childlike creature, with huge, shining emerald eyes and a bushy tail. The three humans all gasped as they immediately recognized the little creature. "I usually look like this he chirped happily between two tiny fox-fangs before, with a twitch of his tail and poof of smoke, the slender, unearthly youth reappeared in from of them. "I've been training my fox magic, though!" So how do you like my new glamour appearance?" he asked excitedly. "I've been working hard on it! I think I look pretty human!"
When his human viewers all gave each other nervous, uncertain looks, feeling a little hurt, the demon asked again, "What's the matter? Is it not good?"
"Akimi-chan, I can see now how you might've been confused," Headman Arai, admitted, his voice hollow with anxiety.
"Confused about what?" Shippou asked, and at that moment, he suddenly seemed to notice Rin where she had been standing a little away from Akimi and Arai. "Hey, aren't you that girl who's always with Inuyasha's evil older brother? He accused, pointing at Rin and causing Akimi and the headman to look still more uncomfortable the word "evil".
Straightening, she stepped forward and faced the young demon. "My name's Rin. And yes, I am. And I would like to correct you and say that Lord Sesshomaru is not evil, but unfortunately, he is doing something again right now that he shouldn't be," she explained sadly. Shippou looked concerned, and so she continued. "It isn't these people's fault, but they mistook Sesshoumaru for you and gave him the special key that was meant for you to gain passage through the Bone Eater's Well to your friends' wedding. Sesshomaru tricked them without my knowledge. I'm so sorry."
Shippou watched as she bowed deeply and gravely before him. He didn't know why for sure, but he believed her. Like even Kagome and Inuyasha, he had never really though the little human girl had anything to do with Sesshoumaru and his minions' schemes. It was true that none of them had ever figured out what exactly she was doing with him, but she seemed to have a kind and pure heart.
"Well, do you know what he wanted with it?" Shippou asked, gesturing a little embarrassedly for her to rise. Akimi and Headman Arai listened on quietly.
Rin thought for a moment. "No, I'm not too sure. But if you'll believe me, Lord Sesshomaru is under the impression that he has actually fallen terribly ill in a way, so I fear he might be planning something rash that is likely to hurt himself more than your friends. I really need to find a way through the well to stop him. I think I may be the only one who can – that is if I'm not too late – and even of that, I'm not too sure either."
Shippou's two thin, gently arching copper-hued brows drew together handsomely, as he considered her words. "You said 'terribly ill'? Sesshoumaru? That doesn't sound quite right… But I do believe you. You mentioned there was a special key? If Kagome left it for me, maybe it's something I know. Can you describe how it looked?"
Akimi and Headman Arai looked at each other. Having actually given it to Sesshomaru, Akimi began to describe the special key in as much detail as she could muster; having never attended much school, this was quite a feat for her, but she tried her best. Suddenly, Shippou's already glowing features brightened just a bit more, and he began to reach around deep inside his wide, pale yellow, crepe silk shirt-sleeve, as if he was looking for something.
"I think I know what it is!" he exclaimed, as the tip of his tongue poked out between his lips at the corner of his mouth, as he started miraculously tugging various objects from his shirt cuff.
Five red, silk scarves; a brightly painted, wooden horse figurine; three temari balls; several bamboo fans of various sizes; and one, wooden child size biwa flute later, a grin cracked out across Shippou's face. Triumphantly, he withdrew it from his sleeve: a small, crumpled looking strip of paper. "Found it!" he exclaimed. Unfortunately, at the same time, something fluffy and copper colored flicked up from behind him. Flushing furiously, he turned to tuck the tail back into his trousers, cursing under his breath, "Tail, stop it!"
That didn't prevent Akimi from recognizing the object in his hand. "That's it!" she squealed. "I know! I never saw anuther thing like it before!"
After Shippou finished fighting with his tail, they gathered around to observe the thing in his hand. With his long, agile fingers, the demon smoothed out the paper.
"What is it?" Rin asked.
Shippou bit his lip. "Mmm… I think Kagome told me one time that it was called something like a-like a—'band-it'?"
"It's a 'bandit'? Why?" Headman Area questioned, starting to feel more than a little frustrated at all this mystery. "Do bandits use them to steal things?"
"Huh? Uh, I don't know!" Shippou squeaked, shrinking back in a motion that was more fitting of his true appearance than the new glamorized one. "Maybe that's not it…" He trailed off just as his tail poked into sight again, causing him to make a resigned little "oh!" sound.
"Well, do you know how to use it?" Rin asked keeping her tone soft and patient in an effort to maintain the kitsune's calm enough to focus on the situation at hand.
"I'm not too sure what Kagome had in mind, since I never knew that it had anything to do with how she moved between her time and ours. She usually just sticks it on our scrapes when we get hurt, she says, to make them heal faster," the demon explained, his tail twitching thoughtfully.
"You said they can help heal you- maybe they've got a special magic of their own?" Rin proposed. "So we just need to figure out how to make it work with the well."
"Oh! Yer friend," Akimi piped up proudly. "I saw him sorta unwrap it like this," she gestured. Carefully, Shippou pulled apart the paper wrapping. Akimi then showed them how Sesshomaru had removed the last two small pieces of wrapping and fixed the "key" inside his sleeve.
"An' then, I started to walk away after I saw 'im do that, but as I moved away, I think I musta heard the rustle of his clothes-which makes me think 'e only coulda jumped in after that," Akimi concluded with a jerk of her head toward the well.
They all fell silent for a moment, and though no one said so, they were trying to fathom the dark and mystical unknown that lay within the Bone Eater's Well. No ordinary person had entered the well and come back out alive – especially in the days of Madam Centipede – other than Kagome, Inuyasha, and their friends.
Shippou spoke first: "Rin, you should take it."
"What? What about you?" she asked. "This is your best friends' special day—"
"This is the only other b-ban-er-key, I've got, though," Shippou said, holding the small thing out to her. "And it could be worse if you don't go and stop Sesshomaru from whatever it is that he's doing."
"I know, but then we'll cut it—we can each take a part—" she suggested, earnestly not wanting him to miss out on going because of her.
"No, what if it no longer works after that?" he told her, putting it into her hands. "Besides, I was still not that sure about going: as you can see, I still have some trouble maintaining the glamour sometimes," he said, regarding his twitching tail with a frown. "Kagome's told us before that she doesn't know of any demons in her time, so I don't think I can very well go to the wedding looking like my usual self."
Rin still wasn't happy about taking Shippou's chance to go through the well, but she couldn't deny that having a tail might not be the most discreet thing at an all-human party.
Taking the key, she removed the last pieces of wrapping like Akimi had explained and stuck the odd, sticky, little thing inside her sleeve. Then, with Shippou, Akimi, and Headman Arai trailing her, she stepped slowly and seriously up to the side of the well and looked in. Inside, the empty blackness looked back at her like a skull's hollow eye socket.
Immediately, she sucked in a deep breath and tried to find her nerve again. She took a step back from the wooden rim, shook out her hands and as an after-thought, she hastily pulled back her long hair with her red ribbon. Looking back at Akimi, Shippou, and Arai-san, she tried not to notice their concerned looks.
Alright, Rin, she thought with another glance at the well, no more stalling. "So what does Kagome usually do? Just jump in, right?" she asked, her voice a little less brave sounding than what she was going for at the moment.
"Yeah, maybe you can kind of sit on the edge of the rim and push off," Shippou suggested.
"Right," she said and turned toward the well before she could change her mind. Shaking slightly, she forced herself to sit down on the wooden rim, and she swung her legs over the edge. Quickly adjusting Tenseiga's strap across her chest, she paused only to swing it around in front of her so that she could hold onto its ancient sheath with both hands; she didn't know what she would meet on the other side of the well- assuming she didn't just crash into the bottom – but she believed that the sword could protect her. She owed her very life to it.
And Lord Sesshomaru, she thought, picturing behind her closed eyelids how his face looked the first time she opened her eyes after he brought her back from death. Then, kicking her heals off the side of the wood, she dropped into time itself.
::
Outside the gate at the end of the Higurashi home's front walk, Inuyasha opened and closed his hands again as sweat popped out on his palms. Sighing, he watched as the little frozen cloud of moisture drifted up from his mouth and, before dissipating, briefly obstructed his view of the front door where he had been gazing for the last several minutes in almost surreal anticipation.
Is this is a dream? he couldn't help but think again, and as he had done almost obsessively since impulsively waking at 5 a.m. that morning, he called up the moments of the past days, hours, and minutes as proof that he was actually marrying Kagome and was really being welcomed into a real family for the first time in his life. With the actual event supposedly only moments away at this point and the need for reassurances almost at an end, he rewound his thoughts to just the last hour or so for review.
He, Miroku, Kohaku, and Souta had gotten into their places several minutes ago to wait for the beginning of the procession. Kagome's extended family huddled close behind them, and the gaggle of little, old aunties chittered to each other, having already satisfactorily interviewed the groom and his friends. Inuyasha had done his best to calmly and politely answer them while sticking to the intentionally vague story they invented about their Kunashiri origins. Starting to sense Inuyasha's waning patience, Miroku had artfully swung in to field the last of their questions, much to the groom's gratitude. Putting his famous charm to use, the monk had added increasingly believable embellishments with each telling, leaving Inuyasha the much simpler task of just listening and supplying agreeable comments here and there at appropriate moments. The aunties finally withdrew at last to compare notes about what they had heard in gossipy tones, when Souta strode down the front walk, looking very official in his junior priest's garb and typical pointed hat to announce that the procession would begin in a few minutes.
Any minute the human school girl who had one day, either by fate or by chance, extraordinarily time-traveled hundreds of years back to Sengoku Period Japan to unexpectedly become a hardened, loveless, and forgotten, nailed-to-tree hanyou's soul mate would step out of that front door. Yes, Kagome Higurashi would step out of that front door, and then she would fearlessly take his hand, and she would change his life once again, as she let him make her Mrs. Inuyasha Hirai.
That thought made Inuyasha's heart leap against the wall of his chest so hard that he gingerly rubbed the spot over the drumming organ. After all the crazy shit I've been through, getting married to the girl I love is gonna be the thing to make my heart give out? he teased himself in a feeble reminder to relax, before nervously double checking again that he was standing in the right place beside the gate. Then, he started a bit when Miroku reached across the walkway and clapped him reassuringly on the shoulder. When he found his mouth weirdly dry, he decided a determined nod was enough of a response, to which the monk seemed to choke back a red-faced, laugh.
In mild irritation at his best man's typical immaturity, Inuyasha screwed up his face and feh'd under his breath as usual. He was just about to hiss "What?" across the walkway, when the small retinue standing in the front yard shifted into action. Consisting of two middle aged Shinto priestesses, another adolescent priest-in-training (all family friends who ran other shrines in neighboring prefectures), and Souta, they lifted their instruments and commenced playing a traditional tune on a combination of tiny, silver hand-chimes, hand-drum, and flute.
Feeling another heady wave of nerves rush through him, Inuyasha noted that the music was probably not so different from that played by Kaede's young charges the night of his transformation, but this time the notes were not at all hollow or lonely. Instead, each ding of the chimes rang long and clear with emotion that didn't dissipate but resounded long after the initial strike in the February air; meanwhile, the drum's kung-kung and the wood block's klak-klak filled in the bars between each metallic chime adding an earthy warmth and gravity that pulled the tune forward into life with an exciting air of expectancy. Lastly, the naturally mournful cry of the traditional flute still pulled at his heart strings, but this time trading desolation for nostalgia in the feelings it stirred within him. Indeed, today, everything in his life was radically different from how it had been that autumn night, not just in what he had changed into physically, but who he was now becoming with Kagome at his side—hopefully for the rest of their lives. Now, he knew he had a future worth living for, and at that moment he looked up to wait for the object of his new life to pass through the opened front door.
First, leading the way, one after the other, Yuka, Eri, Ayumi and Sango stepped out into the yard. Upon seeing Sango holding a bouquet of wine-colored roses in front of her round middle, one of the aunties behind Miroku said in a loud stage whisper, "That must be your poor wife! You know, she's carrying quite large at this point, even for twins."
"Yes, and she already wants to kill me," Inuyasha heard the monk gently hush the little, old lady whom he knew without looking was named Aunt Mari, because she had already distinguished herself as the one to ask the nosiest questions out all the aunties.
Next came Kaede, holding another larger bouquet of white and burgundy-colored roses wrapped prettily in white netting and satin. Once the five women were lined up in front of the house, Grandpa Higurashi appeared at the door in his head priest's clothes, and with one hand extended, he led out the last person for whom everyone in the yard was now waiting—but none with as much anticipation as Inuyasha.
Kagome. Her name almost threatened to escape on his breath as Inuyasha reflexively bent closer to the front gate in an effort to be the first one to see her, akin to little boy impatiently struggling get a better view of the floating tops of cherry blossoms over the heads of a crowd; then, helped over the threshold in her high, platform geta by her mother and grandfather, she straightened and emerged onto the porch for all to see.
As one, the crowd of aunties together with the other guests sighed as they admired the bride, while her mother and the kimono lady neatly arranged the train of the exquisite white kimono. Distracted with all the activity flitting around her, she hadn't yet noticed Inuyasha clutching the top of the fence for support as he watched her lean in with her family for final pre-ceremony photographs.
As impatient as he felt for her to come down the walk, Inuyasha would take in every sight of his soon-to-be-bride today, promising himself, that for the first time in his life, he would choose to savor this moment, no matter what came to pass. For it still seemed impossible to him that she could really be his; He had already suffered enough disappointment for two or three lifetimes. He felt more like he was observing a brush painted scene from some old fairy tale about a celestial maid, so he wanted remember each and every detail to prove to himself that this was an actual event from his own life.
A moment later, the beautiful maid shimmering in white silk descended the porch steps on the arms of her mother and grandfather. As she glided toward him, the golden ornaments shivered and flashed in the sun from atop the red crepe silk hat that crowned her shining, obsidian tresses. Minding her steps in the long, narrow gown, she still kept her long cinder-brush lashes lowered over her snowy-white, made-up cheeks. In a flash of panic, Inuyasha couldn't stop from thinking for an anxious moment that it was not his Kagome at all, but some gorgeous and cruel stranger playing a trick on him, which he feared was more typical of his experience.
The three Higurashis reached the end of the walk, and the Shinto band fell quiet all at once. Breaking rank, Souta stepped forward and swung open the gate between the bride and groom. Grandpa Higurashi released his eldest grand-child's right arm first to wipe away the glimmer in his eyes. Everyone watched, too, as the bride bit down on her crimson painted lower lip and turned to squeeze hands with her tearful mother. "Y-your m-make up," Mrs. Higurashi managed to choke the reminder with a sniffle and a smile as she smeared a bit of her own blush with the back of her hand. Then, looking over at Inuyasha with a smile that was so warm in front of all the family that it suddenly surprised and touched him, Mrs. Higurashi guided her daughter forward.
Then at last, Kagome Higurashi looked up at him: from that moment on, in all his life, no matter how long that would be, Inuyasha knew he would never forget how she looked. Her beautiful brown eyes positively danced like two golden stars in the sky, and her momentarily fragile and nervous grin immediately cracked into a smile more radiant than any precious metal or gem that adorned her. Inuyasha needed to see nothing else beside her face at that moment, and he didn't even look down as he took her hands in his, because it wasn't what was in their hands that mattered or even the decorations attached to their clothes; rather, it was the love that he found in Kagome's eyes. He now knew without a shadow of a doubt what she held in her heart for him, and he eagerly matched it with his own affectionate gaze to make sure she felt the same. How could I have ever been so foolish to nearly let her slip away? he asked himself, finally releasing all the emotion that he had always felt too uncertain to show before others before. You will always know how much I love you, he promised her with his eyes.
Noticing that they might be in danger of waiting at the gate all day with the way the lovers were looking at each other, Kaede shuffled up beside Kagome and nudged her gently to take the white and dark rose bouquet in one hand. As Kagome looked away to take the flowers the spell was briefly broken. Inuyasha flushed a little at realizing their silent exchange had been noticed, but Kaede just gave him an approving, tender-hearted look, and he imagined her saying in her reassuring old woman's way, It's okay, child, don't worry so. At one time, he never would have believed it, but he was so glad that she was there with them.
The Shinto musicians started to play their chillingly high-pitched tune again and took their places in front of the bride and groom. Despite the somber mood that should preside over traditional weddings, Souta smilingly winked going past his sister and Inuyasha, as he smartly struck his hand drum. Gently, Inuyasha placed Kagome's delicate hand on his forearm, keeping it covered with his larger one, and slowly they began to lead the wedding party a little down the road and onto the unique, pebble-paved path that led through the trees to the shrine. Softly, almost shyly, he leaned down toward Kagome and whispered, "You look beautiful."
Inuyasha found it remarkably cute, as she smiled a little sourly and said with a small laugh, "Thanks, but I can hardly breathe wrapped up in all these layers."
Not knowing whether anyone could hear, and feeling funnily demurred by all the traditional decorum of the ceremony, he thought twice before mischievously deciding to try something. A few wisps of her hair brushed the tip of his nose fleetingly, as he quickly leaned into her ear and whispered in a low voice so no one else would hear: "You know, I'll be happy to fix that for you later."
She didn't answer at first, and as he looked down at the top of her head, he started to wonder if she found his comment out of order at that moment because he hadn't yet dared to talk that way to her anywhere outside her bedroom. Then, very discreetly she tugged on his sleeve as they stepped down two stone stairs partially buried in the frozen slope. He had bent down to help her descend, when she quipped, "Is that a promise?" in a soft, sexy purr that surprised him and sent a thrilling tingle down his spine. He found that words were unneeded for a response, as they just smiled giddily at each other. His insides were practically melting, as Kagome huddled closer to his warm forearm in the February chill.
At last they reached the entrance to the largest ceremonial building, and Kagome and Inuyasha led the way for their guests into the simple pine shelter. Hushed whispers and human body heat soon padded the stark organic space surrounding the raised, lighted platform holding the bride, groom, and Shinto officiates. The two red and white clad priestesses sounded the small silver chimes in unison, releasing a single piercing ring that signaled all the guests to sit. Facing his granddaughter and soon-to-be-son-in-law, Grandpa Higurashi cleared his throat and began to recite the ancient, ritualized words which would at last unite Kagome and Inuyasha across time, once and for all.
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Note: Alright, so a new chapter is complete! FINALLY, right? And it's a pretty long one, too, to make up for my extended absence! Oh, I've missed you so much, my dear readers. I hope you're still out there and have enjoyed this chapter. Since I had to write it over many random hours and weeks, snatching any available time here or there, I wanted to make sure it still came together right, but I think at last I'm happy with it (^.^ ) Well, you should hear from me again soon as I'm lucky enough to have yet another period of rest in my life for writing freely, so hooray! In the meantime, welcome to all my new and returning readers: read, review, and favorite as so many of you have already done so faithfully. Hugs- Origamikungfu.