Lessons Learned

Author Shortey 83

Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim! I only borrow ideas because trying to drill them out of my head with power tools doesn't work! ^.^

Story Start:

Takara knew Sesshomaru felt out of place. As the day of their wedding approached and more decisions needed to be made as far as preparations went, Takara noticed that he was simply going through the motions and with a large number of people she didn't know surrounding her she decided to give him a break.

Lately one of the older servants, Ayako, was put "in charge" of overseeing her activities. In other words, the woman was simply around to make sure Takara wasn't doing lewd things with Sesshomaru before they were "properly married".

The woman was a pain in the ass.

"I think I might kill her" Takara told Sesshomaru quietly as she eyed the old woman on the other side of the room who was watching the two of them closely.

Sesshomaru nodded in agreement as he too stole a quick glance at their "Overseer", and continued to sip his sake.

"Does that mean you'll help me hide her body?" she whispered as she took a bite of her rice, giving the woman a sweet smile.

"No"

"But you want her gone, right?"

"Yes"

"Well I could, and would, make that happen if only you would let me."

Sesshomaru shot her a quick disapproving glare as one of the other servant women came to remove her empty dishes and poured Sesshomaru more drink.

"How big is this wedding going to be exactly?" Takara finally gained the nerve to ask him and she waited patiently as he eyed her before he responded.

"Why do you ask?"

She gave him a little shrug. "I just don't like large groups of people, especially ones I don't know." He didn't interrupt so she continued. "I didn't say anything earlier because I was afraid you would get the wrong impression, but would it be alright if we kept this small and quiet?"

"What impression did you think I would get?"

"I thought that you might think I was trying to hide the fact that we're going to be married, that I was ashamed or embarrassed to marry you, which I'm not so you know. I just want it to be us."

Takara carefully watched for any signs of him getting upset, but all she saw was a brief glimmer of amusement in his eyes before his typical emotionless façade fell back into place. She hoped he would agree to this, but then again, times were different and he may have been concerned that the size of the wedding meant more to him than what she saw it to be.

"You understand that this would mean that the ceremony would be moved up a few weeks?" he asked, eyeing Ayako again. Takara nodded and she felt her heartbeat quicken. That meant she would finally give her virginity over to Sesshomaru and she flushed in embarrassment at her own thoughts. She couldn't help but to wonder what it would be like and realized that this was a far different situation than her dream wedding back in her own time.

In her own time she would have had a huge western wedding, despite her aversion to large crowds and her husband would have been opposite to Sesshomaru in personality, but as good looking as a person could get. Her ideal wedding had been the typical modern girl wedding, but as she sat back in this time period, months of planning seemed pointless, large gatherings of people took a lot more to oversee, and the creepy old lady in the corner only helped her wish to speed things up.

Her only regret about this whole thing was her family. She wished she could let them know that she was alright and happy. She wished her father could meet Sesshomaru, not that she cared if he approved or not, but she hoped that if he had been able to meet her demon fiancé that it would be obvious how well she was and would be taken care of. It hurt her to think that her father wouldn't be able to give them his blessings, but she would be happy in the knowledge that so long as she was sure of her decision, so too would he.

A distant yet familiar roar broke the silence echoed by second familiar voice. With a smile, Takara stood and quickly exited the palace as she watched the skies for signs of her friends and in no time she heard a villager scream as the two dragons came into view, both Yolheimin and Sahloknir landing in the courtyard of the palace.

Her smile still in place, Takara descended the steps of the palace and made her way towards her two dragon companions. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as a group of armed villagers paused in awe at the gate of the palace, their weapons lowered as they watched their lady-to-be stroke each of the large dragons' head.

"I spoke to the woman in the village, Vulombrii. She seems to be under the impression that you are soon to be married." Sahloknir spoke, his voice heavy in a feigned grief.

"That's because I am." She told him with a laugh as she hugged his snout.

"You have agreed to marriage without first letting us meet the male?" Yolheimin questioned with a grin. It was like they had felt what she had worried about, but if they had spoken with Kagome, then she had probably been the one to mention the whole thing. She felt a few tears come to her eyes as the two of them offered to assume the role her father would have normally taken on.

Quickly blinking her tears away, she looked over her shoulder to find Sesshomaru standing casually on the porch of the mansion, completely at ease with the two large beasts in his courtyard. Ayako wasn't nearly so calm as she trembled where she stood behind Sesshomaru.

She hurried over to Sesshomaru and pulled him back over to the dragons, while the old woman collapsed on the floor in terror. "You've both met him briefly before" Takara told the dragons. "Sahloknir and Yolheimin, this is Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru, Yolheimin and Sahloknir." To her surprise, Sesshomaru gave each of them a nod, more of a greeting than she had ever expected from him.

"Since her bormah, her father is unable to be present, both Yolheimin and I have decided to take his place and entrust you with Vulombrii." Sahloknir spoke.

"I understand that you are a powerful demon, but should you bring harm to our briinah, our sister, Zu fent nir hio ahrk hio fen bolog fah dinok. I shall hunt you and you will beg for death." Yolheimin told him and Takara was worried about how Sesshomaru would react to that threat, but the dragon quickly looked to her. "The Kagome girl said there are typically threats passed to the male to ensure the female is cared for…" he paused as he leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "Was that a good enough threat or should I try again?" Takara couldn't help but laugh and hug the dragon again. "That was better than my dad would have done. He would have left it at "or else…" and let someone else fill in the blank."

With that she felt the small amount of tension that had seeped into Sesshomaru recede once he realized that they were attempting to fill the role of her father. He even invited them to the small ceremony they would be having, nearly giving Takara a heart attack when he announced that it would be held in a week. He's really got to stop doing that…

Kagome had arrived the day before the ceremony with the entire group in tow including a smug looking InuYasha. It seemed that the half demon was going to have a fun time reminding his older brother about how he had despised humans (he was about to marry one) and half demons ( he had promised her many), but reluctantly agreed to wait until after the wedding and once they had been married for some time.

Rin was probably more thrilled than anyone else. In her eyes, Takara marrying Sesshomaru meant that Takara would never have to return to her old world. She would be around forever just like Lord Sesshomaru in her eyes. It seemed that once her friends were married off later in the year, she would be coming to live with them- to help take care of the babies as she told them.

"It's a little early to be thinking about that, isn't it Rin?" Takara asked, her face flushed.

The little girl shook her head no. "Miroku and Sango had their two girls right away."

Things were too simple in the little girl's eyes, but Takara envied her that. Miroku and Sango had been trying for children, but with Sesshomaru, he would be able to tell when she could conceive by her scent, which also meant that he could decide when to avoid conception. It was all up to him when they would have children, if any.

"Let's just get through tomorrow first, Rin" Takara told the little girl who happily went on to change the subject.

The rest of the day was spent in its normal fashion with a little more focus on cleaning the mansion as well as moving Takara's things into a room near Sesshomaru's. Everything was going smoothly but Takara still had butterflies in her stomach. While she was beyond thrilled to finally marry Sesshomaru, the speed in which things were going was making her a little dizzy.

"Look at things this way" Kagome had told her once Takara had confided in her "In this time, this is normal. Don't worry about things that are out of your hands."

Sahloknir and Yolheimin returned that evening and much to the relief of the mansion's staff, remained in their human forms. Even though she had wanted to spend some time in their company, Ayako had shooed her into her rooms to ensure she rested enough for the following day and that she didn't get any ideas about sneaking into Sesshomaru's chambers.

She was of mind to do just that purely out of spite of the annoying woman, but refrained. Tomorrow she would be permitted in his chambers whenever she wished and there was nothing the woman could do to stop her.

Sleep didn't come easy to her that night, and in the brief moments of sleep she was able to capture, her dreams were of Sesshomaru and the following day. She wished she was able to sleep, but then her thoughts would go to her future husband and wondered what he was thinking about and if he slept. He had revealed to her a while back that he had no need to sleep, but occasionally chose to. Was he as restless as she was? It was late into the night when Takara finally found sleep.

Sesshomaru sat in his chambers listening to the quiet sounds of the castle, and from where he sat he could hear his future wife tossing and turning in her bed, her soft sighs calling to him. Gods above, did he love to hear her breathy sighs and wish that he had been the one to cause them. The sound of her restlessness filled him with a sense of longing. Kimiko had also acted such after he had promised to steal her away, but unlike her, the only family he had to worry about with Takara were the two dragons, creatures that he could easily deal with, but also that she would be able to defend herself.

Somewhere deep down he wondered if Kimiko hated him for living when she had not, for failing her as a mate. Many years ago, if he had asked himself that question he was sure the answer would have been 'yes', but after meeting Takara so similar yet so different from his deceased mate, his thoughts had changed. Neither of them would resent him in such a manner for they both possessed caring hearts that even out shown most other mortals. With that thought, he lifted his cup of sake and drank in memory of Kimiko while looking forward to life with Takara.

To say that Takara wasn't nervous as the servant women dressed her in a pure white wedding kimono would have been nothing short of a lie. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, her hands were sweating, and she feared she would break out in hives at how nervous she was. Kagome, Sango and Rin were more than entertained with how frightened she seemed. "Thinking about running away?" Sango teased.

"I did" Takara gave her the quick answer.

Confused the women looked at her, waiting for an explanation.

Takara shrugged. "I know a shout to slow time and even with that, Sesshomaru is still faster than me."

While her friends and the younger servant girls giggled, Ayako frowned disapprovingly. "You should not spin such wild tales on your wedding day. No one can slow time with their voice."

Takara felt her nervousness vanishing as she turned to glare at the old woman, who seemed so comfortable scolding her. While Takara had never intended to use her position as Sesshomaru's wife against anyone, she felt that it was the better way to deal with this situation as opposed to demonstrating the Unrelenting Force shout on her.

"Are you calling me a liar?" Takara asked calmly, her voice stern.

"I am simply saying that such a thing is not possible." The woman argued, her calm attitude faltering a bit.

"So you are simply calling your Lord's bride a liar?"

The woman's face paled considerably once things were put in that perspective and bowed low while apologizing for offending her, dismissing herself from the room.

Kagome smiled at her and Takara shrugged "They say space travel isn't possible either, but give it a few hundred years." With that remark the women laughed and Takara could feel the tension leaving her… at least until a servant came to announce that everything was ready.

The crowd had gathered outside behind the mansion under the outside pavilion. There were more people than she had expected, but she wasn't overwhelmed at least. Yolheimin and Sahloknir came up beside her and each of them took an arm and Takara couldn't help but smile as they lead her through the crowd towards the covered pavilion. "If you wish to change your mind, Vulombrii, and come with me now would be the time. Yolheimin will even distract him so that I may escape with you." Sahloknir told her softly with a wide grin on his face.

"I'll do no such thing." Yolheimin whispered back and Takara had to fight hard not to laugh at them.

She did everything in her power to avoid looking to where she knew Sesshomaru was standing, afraid she would bolt from her nerves. She observed the crowd and saw that it mostly consisted of her friends and then several of the village elders. However to her left there was a small group of people she didn't recognize sitting towards the front of the crowd on Sesshomaru's side of the gathering. From what she could tell, they were demons and she hoped that there wouldn't be any bloodshed at their wedding. She had never seen them before, but she guess that Sesshomaru had invited them and calmed slightly at that thought.

Finally she allowed her eyes to stray to Sesshomaru and tried not to stare at how handsome he appeared in a formal kimono, the black and grey silks making his silver hair and demon markings stand out more and to Takara he was without a doubt the most handsome creature she had ever seen in that moment. Sitting behind him was a woman that looked so similar to him Takara knew as soon as her blue eyes met the woman's emotionless amber eyes that she was Sesshomaru's mother and she was just as beautiful as her son with her demon looks and silver hair. In the back of her mind, Takara wondered what this woman thought about her son marrying a mortal, but as she finally made it to the altar where the villager's headman waited with a priest she could only focus on what she was supposed to do.

After spending so much time with him over the past few months, Takara was able to tell the differences in Sesshomaru's extremely subtle mood changes and did everything in her power to avoid laughing when she realized how bored and annoyed he was. True most women knowing that their husbands felt that way during the marriage ceremony would have been offended, but not her. She knew and understood that this was a pointless ceremony for demons who did not wed, but mated. He was simply doing this for her, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy it.

In fact once the priest began the 'purification' ritual Takara more than amused with the thought of the humble old priest 'purifying' Sesshomaru.

When the time came to share the sake, Takara's hands trembled a bit, but thankfully was able to pass the rice wine to Sesshomaru without incident.

Her vows were simple, to him with the promises of that a woman of this time should make to her husband, and even managed to get out the part about fulfilling her 'duties' as his wife and serving him well. That had been a bit painful and she could tell by the amused look in his eyes that he knew just how difficult those words had been for her.

While her vows were simple, his was even more so, but those five word meant more to her than anyone else gathered there today.

"I will not fail you."

Takara knew with those words that he was not only remembering his first love, but also that he knew protecting for her and caring for her were well within his grasp this time and he would not fall short this time.

From the back of the crowd, as soon as the priest had announced them husband and wife, a man ran around the mansion and while Takara wondered where he had gone, but a few moments later as Sesshomaru led her away from the altar and a loud cheer erupted from the village she figured out that he had been sent to announce their marriage.

With a smile, Kagome, Rin, and Sango led her back into the mansion to change out of her wedding kimono and into another, more colorful one, but before they could even get the kimono off, Sesshomaru's mother entered the room with a servant woman following her.

Out of respect, Takara gave her a low bow which the demoness returned. "I wish to have a private word with my son's bride." She spoke to the other women, who at Takara's nod bowed and left the room.

As soon as they were alone, the she demon circled Takara looking her up and down before her hand finally came out to lift her chin. They both silently observed the other and it was the lady demon who spoke first. "I can see why my son was ensnared by you." She dropped her hand and stepped back. "You are beautiful and seem to have more spirit than most other young women your age, but I cannot understand why you would so happily wed a demon. Are there not human lords who have grabbed your eye?"

Takara didn't understand where she was taking this so she answered her honestly.

"I'm afraid not, my Lady. I admit that I had no lack of proposals, but none of them could compare to your son, as I'm sure you know." The demoness smiled and nodded as she continued to listen. "When I first met your son, he insulted me and told me to go home. He didn't swoon or coddle me like the other men and yet I felt privileged to have his attention and somehow we grew fond of one another."

"You know about his first mate?" the demoness questioned, seeing if she could get Takara to falter.

"I do. Knowing that I look like her made me very unsure of his intentions in the beginning. I was afraid that he wanted me as a replacement for her, but I've come to realize that she and I aren't the same to him."

The demoness narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side. "And why do you think that?"

"If not for the reason that he assured me that we weren't similar than for the simple fact that I would and will do everything within my powers to protect him and myself to ensure that he does not suffer like that again. I will fight where she would not." Takara was never more sure of her words then at that moment.

A long silence stretched between them before a slight smile graced the she demon's beautiful face. "Then you have my blessings. Do not make my son unhappy."

Takara nodded to her before her mother-in-law called in the servant she had brought with her along with Kagome, Sango, and Rin. The servant finally set down the package she had been holding on the low table in the room and opened it to reveal a bright red kimono with pure white dogs scattered about here and there with gold hexagons surrounding each dog. "A gift" the demoness spoke. "I think it suits you." Takara bowed low again and thanked her before the woman turned and left the room while Takara changed into the new kimono.

"Alright, let's go find your husband." Kagome told her, leading Takara out of the room that would no longer be hers to stay in. From tonight on she would sleep with Sesshomaru in his bed.