My dearest readers,

(if anyone is still there…)

I'm really sorry for the delay on this update.

My internship did not go as I predicted and I ended up failing the year. I was supposed to graduate next year and I was really looking forward to it...

I haven't been able to post anything since I have been quite lost about what to do with my future; you may think I'm overreacting but I know the sacrifices my parents are making to keep me studying and I feel like I failed them.

On the other hand I have failed you too, my dear readers.

For a while I did not deem myself worthy of coming back here and keep going on. I stopped writing completely as a self penitence for my failures but then I realized how miserable I was feeling by not writing.

It took a lot of time, family encouragement, mother cuddling and dad's support to keep me going on track... so here I am!

I want to finish writing this story and I want to write new stories!

I had an aunt, who faced many obstacles in her youth; she has recently passed away but she has left me with her "MO of life" – it was "I Will Prevail". I'm trying to follow that... it's quite powerful, huh? ;)

I really have no words to thank you all for your PM, favorites and reviews of this story! Thank you so much – it makes me really humble to have readers such as you guys! :')

Without much more delay, here's chapter 19.

I'm sorry for any mistakes that may appear!

ENJOY!

DISCLAIMER: Inuyasha and his characters belong to his rightful owner, the brilliant genius that is Rumiko Takahashi! This story, once again, belongs only to me; Inuyasha's characters belong to me only in my dreams! ;)

CHAPTER 19 - Wedding Bells

"Come on, Hiroyuki! We're going to be late!" – Kagome shouted while she applied the last of the mascara to her eyelashes while critically eying her own hairstyle, searching for ways to make it seem more "wedding-ish".

She could hear her son running in his room, putting away the last of his play toys as she finished herself and looked at her full body mirror.

Her knee-length burgundy dress, a tight sleeveless one around the wave-beaded bodice, flowed around her toned legs like silk. She was wearing black high heels and her hair was flowing in waves down her back, having been curled and stylized in large curls. She had applied small bits of make-up and she was ready to leave as she picked her phone for the seventh time in less than 15minutes. She was starting to regret having agreed to Inuyasha's offer; he was late.

He had offered to drive them to and from the wedding a few days ago, given that he got word from Miroku that she would be ride-less. So he had shown up, one day when she was standing in front of the elevators while returning from the X-ray room with a patient.

She was caught completely off guard by his suggestion and had to agree to it immediately since he had begged on both knees, in a hallway full of passing people, for her to accept. And now he was already 25minutes late. If he didn't arrive soon she would have a heart attack and Rin would certainly kill him! Or perhaps in a different order…

The door to her room was quietly opened and Hiroyuki entered the room, dressed like a mini-adult in khaki pants, blue polo and white shirt. He was pouting, his adorable ears lowered to his head.

"What is it honey?" – she asked, turning around to look at him while putting her earrings on.

"I don't wanna wear this… these shoes are hurting me, mommy…"

"Hiroyuki , I've already told you that it's only for today since it's a special day. Would you want to disappoint your aunt Rin?"

"No… she would be sad?" – he peeked at her from under his eyelashes and Kagome had to suppress a laugh at how much he looked like Inuyasha.

"Yes, she would." – Kagome said as she kneeled in front of her son. – "Today is a very special day to her, honey."

"She's getting married to uncle Sesshomaru, right?" – he said. – "Because they like each other, right mom?"

She had to grin at his sudden enthusiasm. He just couldn't stay mad at something for long; he would often end up raising the spirits of everyone around him. He was her brightest gift, she thought as she kissed his forehead and made careful not to smudge him with lipstick.

"Yes. They love each other very much." – Kagome said as she heard the doorbell ring.

"It's Inuyasha, mom!" – Hiroyuki said, his face suddenly transfixed into one of happiness.

"Go on and open the door, then. I'll be right there…"

As her son started running Kagome took one last look towards the mirror. She could hear Inuyasha's voice in her living room and couldn't help but wonder what he would think about her…

Shaking her head to stop that particular train of thoughts she walked out of her room, into the living room with her small clutch in hand.

"Finally!" – she said as she turned the corner. – "What took…?"

She had forgotten how good Inuyasha filled up a suit so it took her sometime to realize that she was staring at him and that he also seemed speechless.

"So… so? What do you think?" – she asked, bravely. She wasn't expecting the sudden dark look that seemed to overcome his eyes. Something between longing and lust was floating in them and she couldn't turn her eyes away.

"You… you're breathtaking…"

Blushing as a teenager was not in her plans but happened anyway. She was feeling quite flustered by the way he was looking at her and his words only worsened the matter.

"Let's go, then. We're already late as it is…" - Kagome said, snatching her keys from her purse and clearing her throat in the process. As she passed Inuyasha a whiff of his perfume came to her senses and she stood still. He noticed that.

"What is it?"

"It's just… that smell…"

"What smell?" – he asked, confused. Hiroyuki was also staring at her curiously.

"Your perfume just startled me, that's all…" - she said as she turned to close the door. She didn't saw the way Inuyasha smirked as he started talking quite enthusiastically with Hiroyuki about the upcoming wedding. The kid was telling him how excited he was to have a new aunt in the family especially one as beautiful as his aunt Rin, he stated. Both adults couldn't help but grin at this.

Soon they were confortably seated in Inuyasha's car and driving off.

"Sorry that I'm late. A last minute emergency called Kikyo decided to throw a tantrum about not being invited to the wedding…" –Inuyasha said, seeming truly sorry. Then his grin appeared. – "If I had known that there was such a vision waiting for me I would have hurried…"

"Kikyo wasn't invited?" - Kagome asked, surprised. Afterwards she glanced back to Hiroyuki once again and saw him paying attention to the road outside.

"My brother would not have her at his wedding ever!" – Inuyasha stated, as he turned left from the main road. – "He said that to me the night he proposed and there was nothing I could do. At the time I did not agree to his decision but now…"

"What changed?" – Kagome asked, truly curious.

"I... I realized some things… you could say I've been opening my eyes gradually to some of my mistakes… some BIG mistakes…" - he said, glancing at her. Kagome was watching him as if he was a puzzle or as if she was trying to decipher what he was thinking.

"You seem different somehow…" - she started saying.

"In a good or bad way?" – he asked, suddenly nervous about her scrutiny.

"I'm not sure yet… sometimes you seem like a completely different person but other times… you resemble my best friend…" - she said with a shy smile that Inuyasha thought fit her perfectly, as she averted her eyes.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"It might be… if it's a permanent situation…"

"What do you mean?"

"I would very much like to have my best friend back…" - she started after a small sigh - "… if that change is to become permanent… if he does not get swayed by other opinions… or made up stories…"

"Not this time, I assure you." – he stated firmly. – "I will not be deluded once more."

"Once more?" – she asked, confused. – "What makes you say that?"

"We've arrived!" – shouted Hiroyuki, as he jumped a little in his back seat, startling both adults.

Kagome realized with a start that he was right, they had arrived. As they moved to get out of the car, Kagome thought why she had the sudden feeling that she could trust Inuyasha enough to tell him the truth.

The wedding was beautiful.

Rin was, as expected, anxiously hysterical while waiting for her arrival but Kagome was able to deal with her in a very diplomatic way as she ended her friend's make-up. She had been assigned to do the bride's make-up and Rin was starting to freak out with her absence.

Sesshomaru seemed a little bit nervous, standing at the altar next to his brother, waiting for Rin to arrive at his side. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of the church, walking in his direction he couldn't stop smirking. Rin was wearing a beautiful white one-shoulder mermaid type wedding dress and a white and orange flower bouquet. Her hair had been stylized and she had him in curls sparkled with fresh orange flowers here and then. She had make-up on but Kagome would later say that her radiant smile was her best accessory. As the ceremony progressed she went on explaining the course of the ceremony to Hiroyuki, all the time noticing how Inuyasha's eyes seemed glued on both of them.

As they moved to the reception, Kagome found herself becoming incredibly nervous; she was in charge of reading a few words and was suddenly insecure about what she had chosen. She was grasping the paper a little bit harder and Inuyasha noticed, since they were seated side by side at the table, along with Miroku, Sango, Kanna and Byakuya.

"What's wrong?"

"No… nothing. Just a bit anxious, that's all…"

"About what?"

"I have to say a few words… and I'm not so good at doing it in public…"

"Says who?" – he asked, grinning. – "I remember that your last speech was actually very applauded."

"What speech?" – she asked, puzzled. Hiroyuki seemed to be having a good time playing with some of the other children present at the wedding and was running through the gardens with them.

"You don't remember? The graduation speech you interrupted on our freshman year. You entered the gym, completely wasted…"

"Oh, God! Please tell me I didn't…" - she said, hiding her face in her hands.

"That's right!" - said Sango near them, holding Aiko in her arms while smiling. Ayumi was sleeping peacefully in the baby stroller. – "She went on and on about how lovely that boy… what was his name?"

"Hiten, I believe…" - Miroku said, smirking, while Kanna laughed. – "She was infatuated with him at the time…"

"And she was so wasted!" – Sango said, while laughing.

"Oh God…"

"It's been a long time." – Inuyasha said, still smiling. – "I'm sure he must have forgotten how embarrassing that was…"

"I don't know… I believe I've heard that name around the hospital…" - Byakuya said, making everyone laugh once more.

"Please, shut up… please!" – Kagome said, being unable to hide a smile while looking at Inuyasha.

"Anyway, if you have trouble concentrating just keep looking at me…" - the hanyou said, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Kagome laughed.

"Somehow I think that would be worse!" – she said.

Inuyasha's grin only seemed to grow larger. Both Sango and Miroku noticed this and eyed each other.

Then it was time for Kagome to step up to the mike and speak.

"Good evening, everyone. As you all know, we're gathered here to watch the start of a beautiful love story for Sesshomaru and Rin. And I say beginning because it actually is, for both of them, the start of a new step. We do know they love each other and that they have been in love with each other for a loooong time… they were just too stubborn to see it!" – she said, laughing with the whole audience. Sesshomaru had a slightly worried look while Rin was grinning in her direction. The lovely bride turned her face up and kissed her husband's chin. He merely smirked as Kagome continued. – "Don't worry, Sesshomaru. I won't start spilling your secrets!"

"Do it!" – Inuyasha shouted, making everyone laugh. While everyone calmed down, Kagome noticed how Hiroyuki was seated on Inuyasha's lap and she gulped down hard to control her emotions.

"I won't do it, I promise." – she said, once the silence returned. – "I have been chosen to say some words about these two wonderfully stubborn people and I… I mean, there was a lot I could say about them. They have been incredibly important in my life and they know it. Rin, you're almost my sister; both you and Sango were the baby sisters I never had… I would truly be lost if I had not found you wondering through those college halls. You were completely lost and were searching of the Biology classroom, remember that? And Sesshomaru… gosh, I don't even know where to start! You have been a hell of a support, both to me and Hiroyuki… you saved him and I'll always be eternally grateful to you for it… and you've always been there when I needed a male figure for my son or a shoulder to cry on… I'm counting on you for the talk of the bees and the flowers, so don't forget!" – she said as everyone in the room started laughing. Sesshomaru faked being in panic while Rin turned red from laughing. Kagome saw that there were tears in her eyes as well.

Inuyasha couldn't take his eyes from her. She was simply beautiful and he was blaming himself for not seeing it sooner. He was truly an idiot. If only he hadn't been deceived by Kikyo…

He was actually jealous of how important Sesshomaru seemed in her life because he knew that if only he had stayed, perhaps… perhaps that important person in her life… Sesshomaru's place would be his!

He found himself wanting to be that important person to Kagome, as she went on talking, when he suddenly noticed how quiet Hiroyuki was in his arms. He had picked him up because he wanted to see his mother and now he seemed quieter.

"You okay, kid?" – Inuyasha asked as Hiroyuki looked at him, a strange expression in his face.

"Yeah. Inuyasha?"

"What?"

"You smell funny…"

"What do you mean? Does my perfume smell funny? You don't like it, is that it?"

"No… you have another smell…"

"Ah… that's my demon smell. It's my natural scent…"

Meanwhile Kagome's words caught Inuyasha's attention once again so he did not notice how Hiroyuki seemed lost in thought, his little nose at work.

"So you've asked me to talk and so I did… quite a lot, actually. So I would like to finish with a small text I've recently found from Laura Hendricks." – she placed the paper sheet over and took a deep breath.

There was complete silence in the room now and Inuyasha was looking at her, his eyes unmoving. Kagome took another deep breath to try and control her emotions that she knew were going to come out in the form of tears if she'd let them. When she had first come across those lines she had thought someone up there was testing her. Those words spoke to her in such a deep way that she was crying when she finished. She only hoped she could hold herself now.

"Love is friendship caught fire; it is quiet, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving." – her eyes, that had been glued on Inuyasha since the beginning, went towards Sesshomaru and Rin's place. – "It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. Love is content with the present, hopes for the future and does not brood over the past."

Then Kagome's eyes changed towards Sango and Miroku, who had an arm over his wife shoulders; Kagome couldn't help but smile at the tenderness she saw in Sango's eyes and Miroku's gaze.

"It is the day-in and day-out chronicles of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories and working towards common goals. If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you do not have it, no matter what else there is, it is not enough." – she finished. – "I wish you both happiness. To Sesshomaru and Rin!"

Rin was up from her place and hugging her as soon as she finished speaking, while everyone else applauded and cheered.

"That was perfect…" - she said, starting to sob in Kagome's arms. Sesshomaru was standing at the side, waiting to hug her too. He did not say anything but Kagome knew it was not needed.

"I wish you both all the happiness you deserve." – she said, sincerely as Rin returned to her husband's embrace, her hand still linked with hers but with tears of happiness in her eyes.

As they parted ways, Kagome went in Sango's direction only to be pulled aside by Miroku.

"That was quite a speech…"

"I know… I'm still trembling right now…" - she said as Miroku extended her a glass of wine. – "Thanks…"

"Well at least you're sober…"

"Miroku!"

"Kidding! Meanwhile… I realize this might not be the best place to pull this up but… have you given any thought about Inuyasha?"

"You mean about Hiroyuki?"

"Yes and about you too."

"Me? What do I have to…?" – she stopped as she saw his face slightly tilted sideways.

"Really? You're going to pull that on me?"

"Miroku…"

"I'm not blind or deaf, Kagome… I saw the way you both look at each other…"

"You're imagining things… besides, I have Kouga…" - Kagome said, trying to move away.

"Oh, really? Then where's he?" – Kagome froze. – "Why didn't you invite him to be your "plus one"?"

"He… he was working…"

Miroku sighed. As he was about to continue he looked over to see Sango motioning for him. Muttering an excuse, he went towards his wife at the same time people started rising up to dance. Sesshomaru and Rin opened up the dance floor, waltzing to the sound of "Sleeping Beauty's" main theme. Kagome was sure it must have been a request from Rin since Sesshomaru seemed slightly embarrassed. However she also noticed how ridiculous he looked, trying to keep a serious façade when his eyes showed him happier than ever.

The hand that was holding her wine cup suddenly became empty and as she glanced to see what had happened she noticed, a bit late, Inuyasha pulling her towards the dance floor.

"No way!" – she shouted as he brought her close and started waltzing. – "Inuyasha!"

"What's the matter?"

"Inuyasha, I can't dance."

"Yes, you can." – he said – "I remember that you took dancing classes when you were younger. You told me…"

"That was years ago…" - she said, relaxing lightly.

"Besides, it seemed that Miroku was being inconvenient…"

"Wait, did you set Sango to…?"

"Distract her husband? Yup." – he said, making the "p" come out in a pop.

"You're impossible… but thank you anyway…" - she said, smiling.

"Was he being inconvenient? Miroku?"

"Let's just say he's being overprotective of me…"

"How so?"

"I have this problem… and he has a different approach than I do… I love him to pieces but it is my problem. I have to deal with it in the best way that I can."

"Seems to me he's only worried about you… can I do anything to help?"

Kagome stared at him, suddenly feeling surprised.

"I mean I know I haven't been around much…" - he started, embarrassed.

"No kidding…"

"Kagome…" - he almost whined at her mocking tune. Then after a few minutes of silence, - "Seriously, if there's anything that I can do to help you…"

"… Thank you… but that's really something… it's a decision only I can make… and there's too much at stake… I have to really think it through… I can't risk losing everything…"

"I see…" - he said, seeming lost in thought.

They swayed a bit to the music, talking about nothing and everything, laughing at old jokes and remembering good times. They danced together completely oblivious to the world or their friends knowing glances.

As the night progressed, Inuyasha caught himself wishing that he did not have to part ways with Kagome. They were dancing so well to the music, her head on his shoulder where it had been for a while now and their bodies close. There was silence between them because they were merely enjoying the rhythm of the music.

"Kagome?"

"Hm?"

"I was wondering if… would you have dinner with me?"

Kagome lifted her head up suddenly, as a deer frozen by blinding lights.

"What?"

"Well it's just that there's so much to talk about… I feel like I have so many things to tell you…"

"Inuyasha… I can't…"

"Why not?"

"Well… I have Hiroyuki for once…"

"Miroku and Sango could watch over him… or he could come too!"

"What?"

"I love that kid, honestly. If you'd let me I would like to know him a little bit better… he's such a great kid and… are you crying?" – he asked, surprised.

"No! It's just that… what you said about him… you would be alright with him coming with us to dinner?" – she seemed surprised and moved.

The music was changing again. Kagome did not pay any attention to it, as she was waiting for Inuyasha's answer and they had stopped moving.

"Of course! I mean I would love to have a hot date with his hot mamma but…" - he said, laughing as she punched him lightly on the shoulder despite laughing too.

"Idiot!"

"I mean it! If I have to conquer the kid to conquer the mother, I will do it. You can count on that." – he said, his gaze suddenly turning heated and losing all playfulness. Kagome gulped.

"What do you mean conquer the mother?" – she said in a much heavier voice than she intended. His gaze seemed to answer to her voice for his eyes seemed to be on fire.

"I think you know exactly how I intend to win you over… Kagome…" - he said as he lowered his lips to her.

Kagome was too surprised by him to notice his attack to her mouth, which opened up pliant to his. She felt him explore her mouth without worries, almost as if he owned the right to do it. The kiss was gentle but demanding and Kagome felt herself unable to pull away.

When they parted, Kagome could see the surprise on Miroku and Sango's face, as well as the excitement on Rin. Sesshomaru seemed… proud?

However everyone else faded away as she noticed Inuyasha's hungry gaze on her.

"Any questions?" – he asked, throatily, eyes never leaving hers.

"No… none…"

Only then did she notice the song that was playing.

And if I lived a thousand years you know, I never could explain
The way I lost my heart to you, that day
But if destiny decided I should look the other way
Then the world would never know
The greatest story ever told
And did I tell you that I love you tonight?

So what did you think?

Did you like it? Did you hate it?

Hope to hear from you guys; read and review to your hearts content!

See ya guys next chapter!