Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Sweet Surrender	By : inumom Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 7748 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

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Disclaimer: Still not mine. Sucks, doesn�t it?

8. Revelations

I awoke some indefinable time later surrounded by a warmth that made me want to stay asleep for as long as I possibly could. Unfortunately, the rhythmic stroking of my back brought me gradually closer to full consciousness, and I opened one eye about halfway. I wasn�t terribly surprised to see a pair of amber-colored eyes looking back at me. �We should probably get up now, love. Mom�s been up for over an hour, and I think she�s getting impatient--she�s passed by your door seven times in the last forty minutes or so.�
I sighed. �That�s right--she said we had more stuff to do today. She probably wants to get right at it. Think I have time for a shower?�
He gave me an unreadable look. �If you�re quick.� His voice deepened slightly as he asked, �Need any help?�
I blushed--that seemed to happen a lot around him--and shook my head. �Not if we want to make it downstairs before noon.�
At his smiled promise I jumped out of bed and grabbed my robe. �Maybe later?� he whispered.
I leaned forward to brush my lips lightly across his. �That would be great, but we�ll have to see how things work out--we don�t want to get caught.�
�I don�t know,� he said, lightly running a claw down my left side just to make me shiver from the intense sensations. �Catching you might be fun.�
I gave him an appraising look before walking out the door. �You have to stop spending so much time with Miroku--he�s starting to rub off on you.�
Breakfast was brief, as Mama was eager to get a start on the day�s list of errands. As she had hinted the previous evening, we began our travels at a print shop across town. I had had no idea that such a wide variety of possibilities existed. There had to be something in one of those massive albums that would be appropriate for our admittedly strange situation. By the time I had worked my way through four of the huge books I was beginning to have my doubts. Although my future mate was sitting in the chair next to me, he was inherently unable to understand why the choice between so many (to him) nearly identical options seemed so crucial at this point.
Still, he offered what support he could, peering over my shoulder at the album in my lap, occasionally resting a hand on my arm or shoulder, once trailing a single claw along the line of my jaw. In the end, we decided on a very simple design featuring a heart-shaped herbal wreath decorated with rosebuds. Although the printer was not happy about it, we ordered the bare minimum number--seventy-five. I would have liked to have invited more people, but I knew of no way to bring my other family from the Sengoku Jidai to my home world.
Although I couldn�t bring my friends here for the ceremony, I would be sure to have lots of pictures and other things to bring them, from samples of the invitation to some of the flowers to some of the food. Although it wasn�t the ideal situation, it helped a little.
So, for that matter, did my attentive lover. He even suggested that we return through the well briefly before the ceremony so that our friends could see what we looked like. I nodded happily in agreement. �Do you suppose they�re wondering about us? I never got the chance to tell them what was going on before we came here.�
He took my hand in his, rubbing his thumb lightly across my palm in a gesture so intimate I couldn�t suppress the blush. �They know. At least, they know that we�re here, and that you�ll be all right.� He must have noticed my expression, because he continued, �I went back the other night while you were sleeping and told them that I brought you here to heal and that we would be coming back in a few weeks. They were more than a little happy to take a vacation.� I was a little surprised by the ease with which he had adopted the unfamiliar word.
I couldn�t tell whether he thought I might take exception to the fact that he had thought ahead. Instead, I just smiled. �I�m glad. I didn�t want them to worry.�
He was somewhat more impatient at the shoe store. Although he had worn them on a couple of occasions, he disliked them intensely, and was not at all happy about the prospect of having to wear them for several hours during the course of the ceremony and the festivities thereafter. All I could offer in the way of consolation was my assurance that he would be able to abandon the offending footwear as soon after the ceremony itself as possible.
The choices were made relatively quickly. I would be wearing sandals in a shade of ivory slightly darker than my dress with medium heels--anything higher would make my gait decidedly unsteady. After a long search we even found shoes that were at least marginally acceptable to the hanyou--they were rather wide in the front to allow for at least the illusion of freedom of movement for his toes.
We had talked about the options for catering, photographers, and musicians on the train trip into the city--another thing that my future mate found distasteful at best. Between the mechanical stench of the train itself and the mass of humanity crowding the vehicle, he was more than a little on edge by the time we got anywhere near the shopping district. Rather than travel around checking out the various caterers, we just decided to contact our favorite restaurant and order a variety of foods that could be set out as a buffet for the guests. The good news was that this entire transaction could be handled over the phone. The same procedure, we decided, would work admirably for contacting photographers and musicians.
Mama shook her head as she checked her watch. She had hoped that we would have been finished before now. While my lover suddenly found the view outside the window intensely interesting, I said, �It�s your fault we slept so late, Mama--remember the �dress rehearsal?� Let�s just say that my hanyou appreciated your efforts on our behalf.�
Even though I had kept my voice low, Mama cast a quick glance in his direction. �I�m not at all surprised, dear. Your father was much the same way when we were young. My parents encouraged us just like I�ve been trying to do with you--if we could enjoy each other in other ways, there would be no need for us to engage in premarital relations of the more usual kind.� She smiled softly. �It made things a lot easier between my family and your father�s.�
�Actually,� I said, my smile broadening into a wide grin, �That wasn�t going to be an issue in our case. I tried to talk him into something a little more�intimate, but he refused. It seems that there�s a whole set of rituals for youkai mating as well. Since we didn�t have a youkai witness available, he wasn�t about to cooperate.�
�A witness.� I could almost see that she was thinking the same thing I myself had when I first heard that a witness would be needed for the youkai ritual.
�It�s not like it sounds,� I said, trying to reassure her. �Nobody actually watches, you know. There just has to be somebody waiting outside who can confirm that the union is consummated if it�s ever called into question.�
She shook her head in confusion. �Why on earth would somebody want to call your�mating into question?�
I realized that my beautiful hanyou had been listening intently from a distance when he approached slowly, shaking his head. �Most of the youkai in the Sengoku Jidai would, actually,� he said. �It�s bad enough that I�m hanyou, but I�m also next in line to inherit control of the Western Lands if anything should happen to my pain in the ass brother. If anything ever happened to him and I took over, there would be a massive uprising--no youkai would want to allow a hanyou with a human mate to rule an entire region.�
She looked at him sharply. �I never knew you had a brother.�
Deciding that the conversation was moving into seriously dangerous territory, I figured I�d better explain. �Sesshoumaru�s his half-brother, actually. They�ve both got the same father, but different mothers. As I understand it, Sesshoumaru�s parents got together as the result of political alliance rather than anything more personal, while Inuyasha�s father took his mother as a mate because they loved each other. The two have never been on very good terms, but they�ve learned to set aside their differences and work together once in a while.�
She turned her gaze back to my future mate. �And have you consulted with your brother about taking Kagome as your mate?�
Completely ignoring the fact that we were on a train full of people, he sniffed disdainfully. �Hell, no! I don�t give a rat�s ass what he has to say about it, so why would I ask his permission to mate the woman of my choice?�
�Still,� Mama said, �He�s the elder brother, and you have no parents. He should at least be consulted.�
It was time to intervene. �How about this, Mama--after we tend to the human marriage ceremony here, we�ll talk to Sesshoumaru before performing the youkai ritual. He won�t recognize the human ritual anyway, so he�ll ignore it completely. It�s really about the best we can hope for. Just understand that we�re going to be mated by both rituals whether he approves or not.�
She nodded, a smile returning to her face. �I wouldn�t expect anything less.�

*
I groaned silently when we reached the train platform a couple blocks from the shrine. The last thing I expected--or wanted--at this point was to run into my friends from school. Granted that they would know everything--or a significant part of it, anyway--when they received their invitations in the mail, but it had been a long day, we hadn�t bothered to stop for lunch, and my leg was starting to ache.
I plastered a false grin on my face as they waved and came over to us. Ayumi, always tactless, squealed, �Kagome! I thought you were still recovering from that accident! Why weren�t you in school today?�
I shook my head, glancing at the entire group. �What are you guys doing here?�
I could feel the hostility radiating from the silent figure behind me as Houjou approached. With a silent prayer that he not do anything to attract attention to us, I turned my attention to the boy my friends had been trying to pair me up with for more than two years now. �Houjou-kun? What�s going on?�
He smiled in that sweet, utterly clueless way that I had always found tedious and my friends had always found endearing. �We noticed that you weren�t in class today, so we wanted to see what was wrong. You look good,� he said with a puzzled frown.
I sighed. This was going to be a long afternoon. �Why don�t you all come back to the shrine? I think it�s time I explained a few things.� With a helpless glance at my mother and future mate, I led the entire group back up to street level.

*

By the time we all settled ourselves in the kitchen I still had no idea how I was going to explain the situation. �First of all,� I said, pacing back and forth across the floor, �I�m not going to be going back to school. I�ve decided that it will be much better if I just study independently.� I held up a hand to forestall the inevitable protests. �I�ve already started to purchase the necessary textbooks. In fact, I�m going to gather up a complete set of textbooks, starting from preschool all the way up to college level in a few different areas.�
Eri and Yuka simply looked at each other, but Ayumi leaped from her seat to give me a fierce hug. �Kagome-chan! We had no idea you were that sick!�
It was, I decided, time to lay that particular lie in its grave. �I�m sorry about all that, but you four have a right to know. I was never sick--no leprosy, beriberi, rheumatic fever--not even the flu. There were reasons why I had to miss a lot of school over the past two years, and Jiichan couldn�t think of anything more believable. The truth is,� I said, hoping that I wasn�t making a huge mistake, �That I�ve been spending most of my time five hundred years in the past, fighting youkai and hunting for pieces of the Shikon no Tama.�
Houjou stood up and took both of my hands in his. �Now I understand. In your weakened condition you began to believe the stories your grandfather told you about the history of the shrine.� He turned to look briefly at Mama. �Has she been getting help, Higurashi-san?�
Mama smiled brightly. �You have no idea.� Turning to the silent figure sitting next to her, she continued, �Why don�t you show them exactly what kind of help she�s been getting, dear?�
With the same supremely confident smirk with which he had faced down both homicidal human zombies and murderous youkai, my beautiful hanyou stood up, removed his cap, and stood behind me with his arms wrapped firmly around my waist. With a broad grin that showed his prominent fangs to their full advantage, he gave a low growl that stopped only when Houjou released my hands and backed up a step in surprise. �What are you?�
Mama answered before either of us had the chance. �My daughter�s fiancé is a hanyou--an inuhanyou, to be exact. She met him a couple of years ago, on her first trip to the past. She helps him to locate the fragments of the Shikon no Tama, and he protects her from the dangers of his world. Since then, they�ve become very�close. In fact,� she continued, �We just ordered the invitations today--we�ll be having the ceremony here at the shrine in a few weeks.�
While my three closest friends sat speechless, I was surprised to see Houjou�s face darken with what would have looked like rage on anybody else. He turned his anger toward my mother. �What kind of mother are you?!?� he spat. �How could you turn your only daughter over to this--thing? Why do you just go along with what are obviously delusions? Don�t you understand what kind of damage you could be doing to her?�
It�s a good thing my hanyou lover had a tight grip on my middle, because I tried to launch myself at the young fool. �Get out, Houjou! I mean it! If you ever come here again, he�ll kill you, and I won�t even think of trying to stop him.�
Only the soft voice speaking directly into my ear calmed me down enough to let him make his escape with nothing more than a few blistering words behind him. My mother looked at me in surprise--she knew that I�d never learned words like that in her house! I turned a sheepish expression to my friends, only to see that they were staring with something remarkably like greed at the tall figure standing behind me.
Once they realized that I�d calmed down a little, the questions started to come. �Are they real?� �Can I touch them?� �Did he ever cut that hair?� �Exactly how did you two meet?� �Does he have a brother?� �This is why you�re leaving school?� �Are you pregnant?� �Won�t you be living here?� �Will you come back to visit?�
Watching him silently searching for an escape route, I laughed. �First of all, the ears are real. They�re really sensitive, though, so you can�t touch them. I don�t know if he�s ever cut his hair, but I don�t think so. We met when I was dragged back to the Sengoku Jidai by a centipede youkai on my fifteenth birthday. He was sealed to the Goshinboku, and I released him--as it turns out, I have some more or less dormant miko abilities. They only really come out when I�m stressed. He does have a brother, but you wouldn�t like him--he�s completely youkai, and doesn�t like humans at all. No, I�m not pregnant, but I�m not worrying about it: we both want a family some day. Of course, we can�t live here. It�s way too crowded and noisy and smelly for him here. I hope to come back for a visit whenever we can.� I paused for a deep breath. �Is there anything else?�
Eri and Yuka seemed to have absorbed everything I�d said, but Ayumi had one more comment. �But, Kagome-chan, youkai are things in stories, right/�
I shook my head. �There don�t seem to be a lot of youkai in present-day Tokyo, but there were a lot of them all over the place five hundred years ago. I don�t know what happened between then and now, but they seem to have disappeared in the meantime.�
As things turned out, that afternoon reminded me exactly why the three were my best friends in this world. Not only did they believe me, but they were actually happy about the choices I�d made.
That was when I made my final decision. Before the three left that afternoon, I asked Eri to be my maid of honor. She agreed, and we made plans to go shopping yet again so that she could pick a dress for the occasion.
It was, I thought, going to be quite a day.
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Sweet Surrender