My thanks to: Meatballheadedprincess14, InuGoddess715, premierarchange, Silver Wolf Pups, Tife L. Strife, shippousangoffe and inulover06 (omg! thanks for telling me about that terrible error i made!!! lmao! Kagome's gonna kill me!) for all their reviews.
Tessadragon
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
Chapter 6
Minutes before Inuyasha and Sango saw Miroku grope Kagome...
"Careful, Kagome," Miroku had said a few minutes ago, reaching out to stop her stepping into one of the deeper puddles. She smiled genuinely, "Thanks." Walking closer to him, she trusted the monk's sense of direction, walking through the forest. Her mind was becoming calmer, her ears no longer absorbing Inuyasha's fears and anger: only the rustle of the leaves and the swaying of tree branches, while air cleaned to crispness by the fallen rain hissed past her.
Her foot skidded again and startled, she threw her arm out: it bounced against the nearest tree and it swayed, releasing a loose cluster of dying leaves. "Oh!" she groaned, standing there, her feet buried in a mound of rotting leaves. She shifted her ankle and shook as much of the muck from her shoe as she could, and Miroku only narrowly managed to stop her slipping again. Kagome blushed and stepped free from the rotting leaves, a few clinging to her raven hair, her shoulders and her skirt.
Miroku smiled and removed one leaf from her hair.
"Thanks," Kagome muttered, embarrassed, plucking another leaf from her shirt. Miroku's hand swiped a leaf from the back of Kagome's skirt...
Then from the bushes, Inuyasha leapt with a bloodcurdling yell and threw himself at the monk, "I saw that, you PERVERT! You hentai! You lecherous back-stabber! You--"
"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelped.
"You twisted black-hearted, fiendish, perverted, lecherous, treacherous--!" Sango screamed, throwing herself at Miroku and slapping him with all her might...
Kagome pushed Miroku out of the way and Sango drew back only just in time. Inuyasha, his eyes wide, was unable to stop--
"Sit!" Kagome yelled, to stop him from plunging his claws into her face.
Spluttering and spitting out leaves, Inuyasha hissed at her, "What the hell was that for? No! I get it, you wanted Miroku to grope you? I thought you--"
Miroku mutely brushed another leaf from Kagome's shoulder, his face pale.
"He was wiping a leaf from my skirt," Kagome said, deadpan.
Inuyasha's eyes went as wide as saucers.
Sango's mouth pressed into a tight line.
Everyone was silent for a moment, then Kagome began to giggle. Sango, after a second, laughed too, in a subdued and relieved way. Miroku smiled nervously. Inuyasha spat out another leaf and poor Kagome laughed harder, until he threw a handful of soggy leaves at her. "Hey!" she protested, then giggled harder: her clothes had been stained by worse in the past, so what was a bit of leaf dirt? Inuyasha laughed too, softly, his eyes still narrowed in suspicion.
"I can't believe my friends still have so little faith in me," Miroku said mournfully.
By the time Shippo and Kaede had caught up with them, everyone was laughing, though Inuyasha was still too reserved to laugh so hard: I'll work on him, Kagome thought with a wild grin, then grabbed his hand and pulled him into the dirt.
He grabbed her chin and kissed her mouth hard, then gave Miroku a superior grin. A competitive urge rose in Miroku: suddenly he grabbed Sango's hand and kissed her on the lips, scared to look her in the eyes. After a second, Sango's hand stopped grabbing for the hilt of her katana as though she'd forgotten her urge to kill Miroku.
Kaede politely covered Shippo's eyes, much to his chagrin.
"Alright," Inuyasha drew back from Kagome and pulled her up to her feet. He went to stand in front of Kaede, giving her a defiant look. "Will you do this…ceremony thing? I want to marry Kagome. But not in front of people."
"What about us?" Miroku said mournfully, thinking that he'd be escorted from the forest. Sango misinterpreted it: "No! I'm not marrying you yet, Miroku!"
Miroku blinked, startled, then cocked his head to one side. "Really? Hmm." He smiled a small smile, wondering if it might be a challenge worth taking up, to try and get Sango to say yes. But for now, he preferred to be caught up in the challenge of watching Inuyasha and Kagome get hitched.
Kagome gave Inuyasha a smile and tightened her grasp on his hand, came to stand before Kaede too. "Yes, let's do it now."
Kaede looked bemused. "Fine. Do you want the long version or the short version?"
"Short version!"
"Short version's fine."
"Fine." Kaede nodded. "Problem is, we usually do this at a shrine, and we usually have sake."
"We've got a shrine," Kagome said quietly, and pointed ahead to the tree where once upon a time, Inuyasha had been pinned to the bark by a sacred sealing arrow. "It just hasn't been built yet."
Kaede hesitated, then nodded, a faint smile. I have a feeling this is the oddest wedding I will ever ordain. A tinge of sadness worked at her heart, for it was her sister who had longed to be with Inuyasha…but Kagome and Kikyo share the same soul, she had to reason, and Kagome and Inuyasha were happy together…they needed each other. Kikyo needed Inuyasha…but Inuyasha didn't really need Kikyo.
"First, purification." The method she chose was to select an arrow from the priestess tools she always carried. Its arrowhead had been formed and purified when she had first made it. Now she reached for Inuyasha's hand and sketched the symbol for purity lightly into his skin with the arrowhead, murmuring a prayer in a low tone, then took Kagome's hand and did the same. Then she pressed the couple's hands together, "Inuyasha, the groom is required to say words of commitment."
"What do I have to say?" Inuyasha asked warily.
"That you'll be faithful and obedient." It was Miroku who spoke up, "And I can act the role of the…go-between, I suppose you can call it, giving this oath for the two of you."
Inuyasha accepted this with a sigh of relief.
"Kagome, Inuyasha," Miroku looked at his two friends fondly, "I know you'll be faithful and obedient to each other."
"Obedient?" Inuyasha queried, arching an eyebrow. "Why should I want to be obedient to Kagome?"
"Because I'd be your wife," Kagome said warningly.
"Uh huh? I need a better reason."
She jabbed a finger into his chest and gave him a hostile smile, "Because if not, you sure won't get me into bed with you. And you wouldn't get me to make ramen for you."
That shut him up for a minute. Miroku smiled, "So you will be faithful and obedient, Inuyasha?"
"Yes," Inuyasha said coolly, "As long as it suits me."
Kagome breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sit," Kagome said hurriedly.
"And, um, Kagome, do you promise not to use your arrows on Inuyasha?" Miroku couldn't help but ask.
"Only if I catch him sneaking off to another girl," Kagome said sweetly.
"Keh, I'm not Miroku, idiot."
"Inuyasha, please don't call your wife an idiot on your wedding day."
I don't think Eri's ever having to face this from her guy, Kagome thought with a longing sigh.
"And does that mean that Kagome can't go after Koga or that weird human kid, Toe-jam?"
"Hojo!"
Inuyasha's smirk was quickly wiped off by Kagome's next word.
"Sit!"
Inuyasha yelped and crashed to the ground, almost biting his tongue off.
Sango winced.
"How do you expect me to want to marry you if you keep doing that to me?" Inuyasha yelled at Kagome. Kagome simply helped Inuyasha to his feet, a soulful look on her face that made Inuyasha feel strange. Finally, he sighed and fell silent.
"We don't have sake to signify the union between us all," Sango observed.
"We don't need sake to know the union between us all," Kagome said quietly. "We've all saved each other's lives so many times, and we've fought together. What better union can there be?"
Inuyasha didn't argue against that, instead he gave Kagome a faint smile, remembering like oh so many times before, how he'd met her, above all others, She led me to being like this…actually trusting these people. Then he grinned sardonically, Even that monk. Though he knew like everyone else did, that Miroku wasn't as lecherous as he used to be, often only having thoughts for Sango.
We've all changed, he realised, and his grip on Kagome's hand had tightened, But what will change next?
"Here," Kagome held out a sturdy twig to Inuyasha. He took it with a look of confusion; Kagome held an identical twig in her own hand. She softly told him, "We'd usually exchange rings, but I don't mind any more. So now we give these twigs…Sakaki, to the sacred tree, for the gods, that we have their blessing."
"Then it's done?" Inuyasha asked nervously. Kagome nodded, "Then it's done."
"It's a very abbreviated version indeed," Kaede said mournfully. Miroku laid a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, "It's only right for such an unusual couple."
Afternote: my apologies on the wedding scene…I'm working from brief research on Japanese weddings, and also because I can't imagine Inuyasha being the kind to adapt to tradition, I adapted the scene.