"The Other Wife" by: E. Marie, E-mail: Emw712@aol.com

Author's Note: June 8, 2003: Well, what can I say? Sorry, people, I was never in this game for you, but getting reviews does make my inner child do a little jig of happiness. Right now, I am pretty much chomping at the bit. I have something very dark and very appealing brewing in the creative quadrant of my gourd for a future chapter. However, I only have this week before I'm being put on an airplane and shipped to the Deep South for two weeks, without laptops, without stupid AOL.and without fanfiction.net.. I'm going to try and give you all I've got, but remember, you guys have work to do to! Keep reading! Keep reviewing! Keep me from remembering I'm afraid to fly!

Author's Shameless Plugging: If any of you people out there in ff.net-land love Rurouni Kenshin, check out "Alone" by Minami-chan, rated R. "I calls 'em like I sees 'em", and if you like "'em" well-written and intriguing, you'll have to check it out!

DISCLAIMER: At this moment, I barely even own my sanity, so, obviously, I still don't own Inuyasha.

Chapter Eight: Neither Wind Nor Snow
That day by the stream was a wonderful prelude to the days that would come. From all the sketches I made that day, I chose to keep only one: a full portrait of his face. At the time, I wasn't sure if he knew I had been sketching him so intimately, and I felt a little wave of guilt in taking his likeness.but he wanted his memories of the true beauty of Monte Carlo, and I wanted something to remind me of the most exquisite man I had ever met looking me in the eyes and truly seeing me...
Lady Yura was a very physically sound woman and recovered from her high fever completely within two days time. "Nevertheless," she remarked from amidst her avalanche of pillows and discarded tissues, "a lady's health should always be very frail. If I were to just bound out this bed, like some kind of.I don't know! You were a peasant girl! You know all about those creatures that bound out of illness. I am a great lady, not some ignorant magnanimous animal; that is why I simply must stay bedridden for at least another week, to maintain to the world that I am an intelligent, cultured woman. I will not ignore the laws of society! I will not show impotence!"
I turned my head to hide my smile. My revenge on my benevolent employer would be the gift of ignorance: never telling her exactly what 'impotence' meant. In a way, I was deeply grateful for Lady Yura's strange, neurotic behavior, for nothing sounded more appealing to me than another week with Inuyasha, time spent unspoiled by milady's odious presence.
Inuyasha and I had four more days together, during which time he showed me more of the secret delights of Monte Carlo. We visited that tiny fishing village we had seen from the villa during our first excursion; renting one of those little boats and drowning were two subjects that were never broached. Just an hour's drive from our hotel was a tiny village of artists that it seemed time and the tourist population had forgot. There were so many hidden alcoves of activity about Monte Carlo, an entire world of minor culture that went entirely unnoticed by the normal squad of elitists and nouveau-riche vacationers. The thought did occur to me: 'Inuyasha is certainly extremely familiar with all these exotic, hidden locations about Monte Carlo, almost as though he is a native, born and bred- and yet, his family is from my homeland, my region.I wonder, how did he become so intimate with these places?'
This question, and many others, built up behind the dam of admiration for him I had built up in my mind. Though it seemed that in our brief time together, I had bore my entire soul before him, revealed every crease in the book of my life, he had yet to become truly open with me, even to the slightest degree. When thinking of his past, his hidden desires, his dreams of the future, all I could draw in my mind was a blurry image, picked up from flippant remarks he made, passing gestures, his personal preferences as I observed them. What puzzled me most was his behavior toward me; even though Inuyasha would shoot me glances that made me feel as if every molecule in my body were liquid, even though I could, at times, catch glimpses of desire in those amber eyes, he did nothing more than take my hand. Once, while we walked the secluded shore that ran along a small cluster of private inns, he wrapped his arm around me, as if to shelter me from the cold.but his arm lingered longer than was necessary, and his fingers traced delicate patterns on my arm, sending more chills up my spine than the cool evening air. Inuyasha and I were certainly alone for great periods of time, and infinite opportunities to increase our level of intimacy had presented themselves, and yet, he refrained from doing more than maintaining chaste, polite physical contact.
Despite the distance Inuyasha seemed to be placing between us, I could not severe within my mind the thought that we were, somehow, deeply connected. Every moment of my day was absorbed with thoughts of Inuyasha; I fell asleep at night picturing his face, his lips giving me more than just a brief whisper of "good night" before our parting. Even so, lurking in my mind always was an impermeable sadness at the thought that, even though he gave his attention, his days to me, he, too, spent his nights dreaming, not of me, but of his late wife.
One of the strongest threads that ran the course between my soul and Inuyasha was our shared experiences with death. Both of us had lost our parents suddenly; both of us had lost loved ones within the last few ones, people who had greatly shaped our lives. Fighting tears, I told Inuyasha of my grandfather, my great love for him, how he had built me up to face the world, my soul-shattering grief at his passing. Yet, once more, Inuyasha's tongue was still about the death of his beloved, the loss of his wife. From what I understood from Lady Yura's idle gossip, his wife had passed suddenly well over two years ago, and yet, he could still not bring himself to speak of her. Through another sleepless night, I came to the conclusion that.he must still.be deeply in love with her, even after all this time.so much so, he won't speak of her death, he won't heal his heart..
Four days after Lady Yura's illness, two days after her vow to remain bedridden for a week, Inuyasha forsook his automobile, saying we would go by foot for the day. He took me down into the main town of Monte Carlo, and we spent hours roaming the streets, enjoying the street performers, taking tea at a student café. When my feet began to ache from the walk, Inuyasha took me on his back and carried me until I came to a "full recovery", much to the bewildered amusement of the others on the street. As streaks of red and orange marred the sky, announcing the beginning of the sunset and the end of our day, Inuyasha set me back on the ground and, taking my hand, led me from the town toward the sea.toward the cliffs, where we first met. Once at the crag where I had first called to Inuyasha, pleading him to spare his own life, Inuyasha dropped my hand and, taking me by the shoulders, turned me to face him. Holding me firmly, he closed his eyes and said in a voice shaken by emotion:
"I sure ain't much of a poet; flowery words just aren't my style, Kagome, but, I.I just wanted you to know that.you have made my heart gladder; hell, you saved more than my spirits, you saved me. I thought that there was nothing left for me here, in this world, but you're the one who woke me up from that long nightmare, and I want to thank you. So, I gotcha a little somethin'."
Reaching into his pocket, Inuyasha pulled out a long necklace of black pearls and polished bone. The dying rays of the sun danced on the shiny surface of each pearl, so it looked as though the necklace glowed with a hidden magic. Its style alone was an allusion to ancient prayer beads; this "little somethin'" was truly an antique and was certainly the most expensive of all his gestures to me.
Choking back tears of gratitude and a mixture of all the feelings I harbored for him, I gathered my hair in my hand as he slipped the beautiful prayer beads over my head. Though I would have loved nothing more than to be the eternal romantic and never remove them, as if the beads were the sign of an odd engagement, I knew that Lady Yura would wonder how I came upon such a wonderful and expensive piece. No, I would have to do with keeping Inuyasha's gift tucked in my baggage, in my chest, from my own protection.
Taking my own small hand in his large, calloused palm, Inuyasha led me back to through the town, to our hotel, where we parted once more; "good night" was the only exchange between our lips..

The next morning, I perfected my coif, humming a little tune I had picked up from one of the street performers from the day before. Growing bold, I took the black prayer beads and tucked them in the front pocket of my smock.
"With any luck", I said aloud, patting the hidden treasure of my pocket, "Lady Yura will be brief in her mindless ramblings today, and I will be wearing you within the hour, as I take breakfast with my Inuyasha.."
When I opened the door to Lady Yura's room, I nearly collapsed at the sight that awaited me. Not only was milady out of bed, she was wearing her best travel suit, a preposterous hat, covered in large plumage and hideous paper birds. Lady Yura conducted a squad of flustered maids bearing dresses and assorted hat boxes, her bellows increasing the tempo of their frenzied labor. Finally noticing my presence in the doorway, Lady Yura waved a gloved hand in my general direction, indicating I should come to her immediately.
"There you are, you lazy slug abed!" began milady, repositioning her hat an angle on her head that further defied the basic laws of gravity. "You must pack immediately; we are taking the noon steamer, bound for home."
My mind was a whirl of distress, fear, heart-clenching sadness. Leaving, and leaving immediately. No time to even say good-bye to Inuyasha, to explain myself, to ask him the question that had been brewing inside me since the moment I first saw him, looking over the edge and into the sea....
Desperation made me find a voice. "But, Lady Yura-"
A gloved hand was placed inches in front of my face, silencing me. "Ah, ah, no "buts", Kagome! Butts are found only on the ends of cigarettes and impotent little girls."
For once, the humor of milady's stupidity was lost on me.
"Lady Yura, what of you recovering so quickly from your illness? I thought the rules of good society dictated you stay in bed at least three more days!"
Reaching deep into the dark valley between her ample bosoms, Lady Yura retrieved a creased, yellow square of paper-a telegram. "Foolish little Kagome-how could I have say such a thing? I would punish you for your impotence if I weren't so happy at this moment. I received this telegram from my dear daughter, Gladiola, today. She has wormed, I mean, she has become quite close to a rich young man, who just happens to be blind as a bat, and now, he has asked for her hand in marriage! I must head to her side straightaway, so we can make our demands for the wedding quite clear! The steamer leaves at noon! Gather your rags, now, Kagome!"
Stumbling from Lady Yura's door, I collapsed in the corridor, my body constricted with waves of nausea and overwhelming pain. My time as a person was over; my days with the one person who made me feel truly alive had come to a sudden end, and I had no way to let him know....
Tears welling in my eyes, I fumbled with the door to my room, whispering quietly to myself:
'Inuyasha...I'm so sorry...love you...good-bye....'