Authors Notes: Alternate universe and romance all the way baby! I'm not new to Fan Fiction, but haven't yet written for the Inuyasha section. But let's get one thing straight. I am a 110% supporter of the Inu/Kag love movement and Kikyo is definitely at the low end of my fav character list. But it's that nagging little empathy thing that lets you identify with her… a little… a very little … and thus the idea behind this story.
The low down: This is a multipart song fic. The lyrics for each section will close each chapter. The song is a country song called "Holding Her and Loving You" and I think it fits quite nicely.
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Love and Marriage
Chapter 1
Last Night of Freedom
"Set him up!" And the line of shot glasses filled with a well practiced flick of the wrist. A red-headed bar tender winked at Miroku as he pushed a drink at his friend and downed his own.
"What's the occasion, Sugar?" she flirted as he stuffed a folded bill in her tip jar.
"It's my boy's last night as a free man!" He threw an arm around his friends shoulder. Inuyasha sighed and closed his eyes so the stranger wouldn't see them roll. Miroku was trashed…. beautiful. He had staggered off the dance floor when he noticed the 'guest of honor' sitting alone at the bar. Now the only thing keeping the happy drunk on his feet was his hold on Inuyasha's comparatively sober shoulder. The bartender smiled as she sized the two up.
Subject 1: A young and sinfully good-looking man. He was absolutely striking with his long silver hair, which was tied behind his back and large golden eyes. His face was almost boyish with a subtle naivety, however presently he looked more irritated than childish. The fact that his friend was singing along to the overhead music in a key that had yet to be identified and was sloshing alcohol on his shirt was not easing the threat of assault in his eyes. She could imagine he'd be adorable if he were to blush. Sweetly innocent with just enough mystery and danger to make him intriguing; this man embodied every school girl's fantasy of a lover. Diagnosis: Bad for business.
Subject 2: A happy-go-lucky pretty boy. Holding himself upright with his friend's steadiness and giving her a grin that took up his whole face. This one would give up his wallet with the classic combination of booze and boobs. Perfect-- she had both.
"I see." she said, "So you're getting married in the morning?"
"Ding dong! The bells are gonna chime!" Miroku sang out and was promptly knocked to the floor. Inuyasha huffed and took his drink. He always had hated that song.
"What was that for?" Miroku pulled himself up the next barstool.
"You were about to knock me over, you drunken idiot!" Inuyasha growled.
"Aww… Relax! The party is for you… being with the same woman night after night for the rest of your life. I'd be a grouch too if it were me, but at least I can celebrate the loss in competition." Miroku laughed and ordered another drink with a grin plastered once again on his face. You see a lot of types behind a bar and before long you pick out patterns in your customers. These two were further evidence to the already proven golden rule of relationships; opposites always attract. Still with the glaringly obvious differences between the two, they seemed to suit each other. It was like the pretty boy was the Jose Cuervo, and his friend the salt and lime. But all sentimentalities aside… a girl has to make a living and rent was getting more and more expensive.
"I'll bet a cutie like you never had to worry much about competition though."
Ahh yes… she was good at this game. A pleasantly surprised Miroku did his best to smile seductively in his inebriated state. She noticed his attempt which failed miserably as he couldn't seem to raise his eyes up past the dip in her shirt collar. She found him quite charming however when he placed more bills in her jar. Miroku couldn't help wondering about this nagging thought that he was forgetting something, but all his thoughts seemed to go away gazing into that beautiful face…. wait… he wasn't looking at a face… oh well. Faces weren't that interesting. Eyes, nose, mouth-- you've seen one, you've seen them all. What he was looking at was far more fascinating anyway.
Inuyasha shook his head finding himself the furthest thing from his best friend's mind. If Miroku didn't notice he was around, chances were no one else would either. So slipping a dollar across the bar and silently complimenting the woman on her tactics, he excused himself from his own party. He claimed his jacket at the clubs front door and gave one glance back at Miroku and the ambitious bar maid. She was pretending to laugh and Miroku was howling at his own humor.
'Just keep laughing man.' He thought grinning, 'Keep tipping and she'll laugh at all your stupid jokes until your bankrupt.'
The club bouncer nodded to him as he stepped out into the street. "Hey," Inuyasha called to him and fished around in his pocket for something, "I need a favor. I have a friend in there, his name's Miroku, pretty sure you'd know him" the bouncer chuckled and nodded. Yeah… they knew that one well. "He's not in any condition to drive home." Inuyasha handed the bouncer some bills and smirked. "After your bartender's done with him, I doubt he could afford it, but I'd like to make sure he takes a cab home."
"Sure, no problem" the bouncer said. "I heard this was your bachelor party too. Good luck, man!"
"Thanks.." Inuyasha said and turned down the dark streets toward his home.
1:00 AM
He checked his watch. It was pretty early for this part of town, but it was eerily quiet. Usually there would at least be a few barhopping drunks loitering in the alleys, but nothing. He shrugged it off . Most people would be afraid to walk alone at this time of night, anyway, and they probably should be. Inuyasha hadn't ever been one to be taken by a street criminal and never worried much about think of them. Besides, his apartment was only a few blocks away as he and Miroku had noticed on several occasions it was perfectly within stumbling range after a night at a bar.
'I'm getting married in the morning…' his thoughts played, 'Ding dong, the bells are gonna…SHIT!' he growled. Oh yes, he was going to kill Miroku for getting that stuck in his head. Stupid friends!
A scream ripped him from his murder plots. His whole body tensed and he searched the dark streets. "Please no!" he heard in an alley up ahead and shot towards the sound. A woman was being attacked. He whipped around the corner and found he was right. A young woman was being held between two men.
Situation Analysis: Two thugs. One big and ugly, the other meaner, smarter, and much the better looking. Each had a braid falling down their back although the ugly one had practically no other hair to speak of. Ugly was holding a girl in front of him, trapping her arms above her head. She was well dressed and very pretty. Other thug stood in front of her with a look suggesting far worse than just a robbery.
Conclusion: These two really needed their asses kicked.
"A pretty thing like you really shouldn't be wandering around places like this all alone." The man said and stroked the side of her face while she looked at him and seemed to want to vomit. "You could run into the wrong type of guys, couldn't she brother?"
"Oh yes!" The ugly one agreed. "Very dangerous for pretty women to go out alone."
Kagome really did feel like she would puke. It would serve this jerk right, and if she couldn't stop him, at least it would make it very unpleasant. 'I won't cry. I won't cry. I won't cry. I won't cry.' She repeated in her head as she did her best to squirm away from the man holding her. It was no use though, he was several times the stronger and she couldn't maneuver herself to strike him with her legs.
'Please don't let this be real!' her mind screamed as the other one stroked her face and came closer to her. She hated his face. He was just staring at her with sickening misogynistic cruelty. His face was so smug and cocky. So damn arrogant and spiteful. "Get your damn hands off her!" So crumpled and bashed and full of fist…. What?! She didn't get a chance to figure it out, because the thug that had been holding her roughly threw her against a wall and the back of her head bashed against brick.
Inuyasha watched them run away. 'Fucking cowards!' he mentally spat. He had caught them by surprise and punched the one in front of her clean. It felt like he may have broken the bastard's cheekbone. Good. The second had flung the girl aside and went to attack him but lost all the air in his lungs with a jab to the stomach and most of his teeth with a clean uppercut. With a second wind, the formerly pretty one rushed at him, but Inuyasha managed to dodge and send the attacker to the dirt with a hit to the back as he went past.
"Hiten! Let's just go" the ugly one insisted and pulled his brother to his feet. The fight belonged to Inuyasha and they best just retreat before someone in the bars called the police to report a disturbance.
Inuyasha smirked confidently. He always did love the element of surprise. Those two had been completely off guard to any outside attack, they were so focused on… the… Oh yeah! The girl! He whipped around to see her slumped on the ground, head against the wall. She was out cold.
"Wait!" he yelled and shook her shoulders. "Don't faint on me you stupid girl! Wake up and tell me where to take you." She wasn't waking up. Damn. He rolled his eyes and glared at the universe over head. 'Why me, huh?!' The stupid universe was out to get him again and had just earned a point. Not knowing what else to do, Inuyasha sighed and took the unconscious girl in his arms and walked out of the alley. He'd take her back to his apartment and see if he could wake her up. Then maybe he could take her where ever she belonged.
Getting in the building turned out to be a trick. He hadn't ever thought about it before, but it was actually hard to get a door open with a girl laying in your arms. Movies and television had lied to him, the traitors. The stairs to his apartment were even harder and he wondered what why he hadn't rented a ground level. Oh yeah--he had wanted the view.
He managed to navigate his way up to his apartment and was adding a point to his score against the universe when he realized he was face to face with yet another locked door. Crap. Another point went to the universe.
Inuyasha set the girl on the floor with her back to the wall and dug in his pockets for his key. She grunted and quickly lay down and tried to snuggle against the wall. "Hey! Are you conscious yet?!" he yelled at her. She grunted again and pouted as she rolled on her side in a more comfortable position on the hard floor. He growled at her sleeping form. The nerve of this girl! Grunting at him like he was some annoying alarm clock. Stupid, irritating, insolent, unconscious girl!
He picked her up again and propped the door open with a foot as he carried her in, careful not to bang her head against the door frame. The last thing he needed was to give her a concussion. She would just be out longer. He laid her down on his bed and sighed. In sleep, she situated herself and found his pillow.
"Now look!" he said sternly. "Don't get comfortable! You better just wake up and tell me where the hell to take you." Her answer was a sigh as she snuggled into his pillow which irritated him even more. He was about to yell at her some more when he managed to catch the smell on his clothes and had to suppress a gag. This was the worst thing about bars, the god awful smell of smoke that saturated your clothes afterwards. There was no way he could stomach this smell for long and he would have to change before he could think of anything to solve this new problem in his life. The smell hit him again. 'Ok, and maybe a shower.' He thought.
"You!" he pointed at the sleeping girl. "Just…don't go anywhere until I figure this out. When I come back, you're out of here."
His apartment was pretty modest considering his disposable income, but it was more than he needed. The rest of the money was spent mostly on a food budget, and he had the larger stock of instant ramen noodles than the space program. It happened to be the only thing in the world he knew how to prepare, but he never really cared to learn to cook anything else. Through his college years, he had stayed alive because of instant ramen noodles. He was immensely thankful to the product.
A one bed, one bath flat with a small living area with a sliding glass doors leading out to a balcony. Modest, but with a great view of the city lights at night. His brother hated where he lived and he liked that just fine. It meant he wouldn't have to deal with snobby relatives showing up unannounced. Besides, the location already proved functional. 'Oh right… Miroku.' He thought as he walked out of his bathroom in some fresh sweat pants and T-shirt. If his friend staggered in to his apartment from the bar and saw an unconscious girl, Miroku would never let him forget it. No matter how drunk he got, Miroku always had a way of remembering these kind of things.
He locked his door.
5:00 AM
He stirred in his sleep as the strange sounds continued. He thought he had been aware of them for a while now, but they were louder and more insistent and pulling him closer to consciousness. He opened his eyes slowly and was confused. He was sitting up. That was strange. Why wasn't he in his bed? Oh, someone was already in his bed. That made sense… wait… no it didn't! Who was in his bed and why were they tossing around and whimpering?!
'Oh right!' he remembered 'That girl.'
She was shaking. She tossed her head from side to side whimpering. Whatever she was dreaming, it must be horrible to scare her like this. He went to her and sat on the side of his bed. She looked terrified and it tugged at his heart slightly. Poor girl, she had just been attacked in a dark alley and all he had done was yell at her and be annoyed with her. Wait… why was he feeling guilty all of a sudden. Besides, she had been unconscious, it wasn't like she could hear him.
"Hey," he whispered, "hey calm down. It's alright. You're safe now." He reached up and touched her face gently. As soon as his fingers grazed her cheek, her eyes shot open and she gasped. He recoiled in shock and she pushed herself away until she hit his headboard. She looked around her into the dark room frantically and not recognizing her location, she looked even more like a frightened animal.
"Please…" she whispered in terror, "I'll give you whatever you want, just don't…"
"Hey hey hey!" he held up his hands to stop her. "I'm not going to hurt you! I promise." She pulled his sheets close against her chest and watched his every move. "Look, you were attacked in the alley, do you remember?" She shuddered and nodded.
"He tried to… tried to" she stuttered but he stopped her.
"Don't think about it. It's over now. I-I heard you scream and I saw them. But once they knocked you out and I didn't know what to do with you, so I brought you back to my place." He smiled and turned his body towards her to show her he had no weapon and demonstrate he wouldn't hurt her. It seemed to work a little and she relaxed just slightly, but she was still gripping his sheets in her fists like her life depended on it. "I tried to wake you so I could find you how to take you back to your home, but you were completely out. I couldn't think of anything else but let you sleep."
"You--you saved me?" She looked up from her hands into his eyes.
"It wasn't a big thing." His face softened. "Guys like that need to get the crap beat out of them." She looked troubled about something and it bothered him. "What?"
"What were you doing out there so late at night?" she asked skeptically.
"I was coming home!" he was snarling again. Women! Play the hero and they think you're a thug. That's gratitude. "If you must know, I was walking back from a party my friend was throwing. It was my stupid bachelor party that I didn't want to go to in the first place so I left early just in time to see some girl who was dumb enough to wander around this part of town alone at night get attacked by a couple of worthless thugs!"
"Oh." She said embarrassed. He noticed she was fidgeting with something at her shirt collar. She hadn't really meant to sound that accusing, but it had just come out. She needed some way to cover that up quickly. "So you're getting married?"
"Tomorrow." He nodded.
"Congratulations." She offered smiling.
"That's what they tell me." He wasn't actually pouting was he? Come on, he wouldn't be that childish. After all, she hadn't really meant it.
"You don't sound very excited." She said, "Don't you want to get married?"
He almost fell off the bed. "Do you always get this personal with people you don't know?!" he yelled.
"Sorry, sorry!" she played it off with a wave of her hand. He was a strange man, and she could tell he was stubborn and short tempered, but he had just saved her and kept her safe in his home. "My name is Kagome, by the way" she held out her hand to him.
He cocked his head to the side and gave her a funny look. "Inuyasha" he said finally. 'Strange girl...' he thought.
"So why don't you want to get married?" she asked again with determination and almost sending him off the bed again.
"Again with the personal questions!" he roared.
"Well we know each other now!" she yelled back at him, but quieted herself quickly enough. "You do love her don't you?"
Inuyasha suddenly felt like his T-shirt was trying to strangle him. "Look why do you want to know?"
"Well if you're about to marry someone, you should be able to say that you love them without having to think about it." She said and suddenly looked conspiratorial. "Did you get her pregnant?"
"NO!" This time he really did fall, but was up and towering over her with malice in half a second. He decided that this girl and Miroku would probably get along just fine.
"So why are you getting married?!" she yelled at him before he could say the million mean things running through his head. Why did she have to have all these annoying questions… worse yet, why was she making him ask himself the same things? 'No!' he snapped at his mind, 'No, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to think about this. Now is not the time to think about this. I don't have to explain myself to her. I don't even know her! It's none of her damn business anyway! I am NOT talking to her about this.'
"Because she wants to marry me." He said quietly.
Damn brain. It never listened to him!
"But when you proposed to her, what were you feeling then? You must have wanted to marry her then." Kagome insisted.
"It wasn't really like that." He said, more to himself in memory. "She asked something about what I saw of our future. I hadn't really thought about it, but she asked if I could see us being married. I had known her all my life. It felt like I had always been with her. How would being married really be that different?"
There it was. It seemed so simple all of a sudden. He was silent after that and just looked off into space. This girl was making his whole life turn upside down so quickly. She made everything seem so simple.
"She must really love you." Kagome whispered in the silence, playing with her collar again. She seemed to play with it in what he guessed was uneasiness.
"Yeah, I know she does."
"You're lucky then." She said, "It's hard to find someone to love you and who will be good to you. You should be thankful to her."
"You don't…" he stuttered not thinking what the girl was suggesting was possible.
"No." She said with a sad smile and messed with that thing at her collar again. "I don't have anyone who loves me, so you should be thankful you do. I haven't ever loved anyone either." She looked at him and felt like he was trying to catch her in a lie. "I don't mean I haven't dated! It's just that I never cared about anyone enough to want to commit to them."
Finally he noticed what exactly what was around her neck. She was fingering a chain around her neck and he noticed a round violet jewel bouncing at her chest as she fidgeted with it. It seemed to be precious to her if she would toy with it everytime she was uncomfortable about something."You must have cared for one of them" he pointed to it, "to accept a gift like this?" His finger brushed against her collar bone as she turned away from him slightly.
"No," she blushed, "nothing like that." Kagome held the jewel in her palm. She looked as if she were about to cry when she looked into the jewel. "This was a very old gem called the 'Shikon.' It's the jewel of four souls. My family has had it forever." She glanced up and gave him a smile, but her eyes were glistening. " My grandfather could tell you some ancient legend about it somehow, he puts so much faith in the old stories and never gets rid of anything. Just about everything at my home has a bizarre history." She smiled at some private memory and Inuyasha imagined him to be quite an interesting old man and smiled with her. But suddenly she really did look like tears were about to flow. He had to restrain his instincts to reach to her. "My dad had this necklace made for my 15th birthday. He died a month later."
"I'm sorry," he said, and couldn't think of anything else to say.
"It was a long time ago" she smiled at him.
This was something he wasn't used to handling. What do you say to someone when you they tell you they lost a father? But it felt as if he should say something. Surely there was some perfect thing to say at this moment that was just escaping him. It was an insistant tugging at his heart to help, but really what could he do? It's not like he could just go back in time and stop the pain from happening. "Do you…" He was lost. 'Say something, idiot!' his mind commanded.
"Miss him?" She offered smiling sadly. "Yeah, I always will." This was uncomfortable for him and she knew it. She didn't know why she even brought it up in the first place. She didn't need sympathy or someone to lean on. It had just come out and she was sorry to make him edgy with the knowledge. 'Please don't act like you have to be cautios and careful of my emotions.' she thought, 'I'm not a little china doll. I'm not going to break. I don't need anyone trying to protect my heart.' "Don't worry, I'm fine. It was a long time ago. I don't really know how to explain it, but there's just something that never really went away. That's all."
"I don't think I understand." He said.
"Well, family is unconditional. It's a kind of love that accepts you without question." He watched her trace patterns on his sheets as she reached back into her memory. "He always used to tell me that when I was born, and the doctors came and told him it was a girl, he couldn't have been happier. He had always wanted to have a little girl and he had gotten exactly what he had always wanted with me." She smiled but added as an after thought, "Oh! Not that he didn't love my brother just as much when he was born. But it wasn't the same thing, you know?"
He nodded but didn't know what she meant at all.
"I guess that's what I think love is. It's not finding some perfect person and then let all the little things disappoint you. It's knowing that the person has all those annoying little things but accept them as part as the person you love. Then, it's like you love even those imperfections because they belong to the one you love and they really do become perfect to you." She was still fidgeting with the bed sheets and looking at her hands.
A hand traced the line of her jaw and pulled her face back up to meet two intense and uncertain eyes. She could feel his breath against her lips and she smiled up to him. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "You probably don't care about all this and I don't know why I'm telling you. I haven't really talked about this before."
"I don't mind." Inuyasha said while tracing the lines of her face. 'What am I doing?' he thought savagely, 'Pull away, idiot! Pull away!' His body wouldn't listen to him. So close-she was right there, only inches away from his mouth. Her breath was fast and warm against his skin. She was unsure as well, but he took it as some good sign that she wasn't pulling away either. He had to stop! He had to put some distance between the two of them. He didn't know what was happening that made him lose his senses all of a sudden, but every rational capability he had left was screaming at him to stop.
He needed to look away from her eyes: sweet, innocent, mossy gray eyes staring through him. He had to force his hand away and stop touching her smooth, soft, completely perfect porcelain face. He couldn't focus on her sweet little candy lips that she probably hadn't even realized she had parted. He just couldn't do this, there was no question about it.
He kissed her.
It was soft, barely touching and he held it before gaining the nerve to add pressure. He felt her sigh in relief and return his pressure. His strong hand gripped in her hair to support her head as she craned her neck back while the other pulled her close at the small of her back. He felt her tongue gently tasting his lips and he turned his head to deepen the kiss and capture it. An unfamiliar passion was taking him and he doubted he could keep it subdued.
Kagome was almost just as lost. Here she was with a man she had only met that same night and was kissing him with a passion she never realized she could muster. She was frightened of the aching he was causing within her, but she wanted it to stay. She wanted to pull herself closer to him and to feel more of whatever he would cause to stir inside her. She clasped her hands behind his neck and pulled herself closer. No wonder that girl wanted to marry him so much if… WAIT!
"No!" her hands went immediately to his chest and pushed him hard. "No! This isn't right." She told a very confused and disoriented Inuyasha.
"Wha… what?" he panted.
"We can't do this" she scooted away and hugged herself. "It's wrong. You're getting married tomorrow."
His eyes bulged and he remembered. He had forgotten! He had actually forgotten that he was supposed to marry Kikyo in ten hours. 'Shit!'
"You're right" he said and held his forehead in his hand. So many thoughts and emotions were stampeding through his head right now, it felt like it would explode. This was wrong. This was very wrong. He knew it… so why did all this wrong with Kagome feel more right than anything he had ever felt before? He had only just met her! He had thought if he couldn't love Kikyo, he must just be incapable of it. That or it just didn't exist.
He cared for Kikyo yes, and would never hurt her for anything in the world. If things weren't right with her, then that must have meant they would never be right with anyone. She was the best he would ever possibly have. That was right and he knew it. That made sense. Kikyo made sense. With her, his life made sense, but then this girl comes along and nothing makes any sense. It was like waking up to a different reality.
He didn't understand it. It made no sense. But he didn't want to fight it.
"What if I was wrong?" he whispered. He cupped her cheek with his palm and smiled at as she sighed and leaned into his hand. "Is there any chance that this could be right?" He shifted to be closer to her and felt her hands push softly up his back. She was pulling him in closer to her as well. Their bodies were touching now and he could feel a quickened pulse thumping in his chest. He wondered just which of their hearts that was. Kagome was nervous and he could see she had never done anything like this before. He certainly hadn't.
She didn't protest when he kissed her again. She didn't stop him when he deepened it. She willingly parted her lips to him and tangled her fingers in his hair as they explored each others mouths. 'What am I doing. I can't do this.' Kagome tried to convince herself to act.'I can't believe this is happening. I should stop him. I know I should. But I just dont want him to stop.' She would pay for it later she knew. That was just fine as long as she had this happiness now. He had no objections when he felt nervous little hands pulling up at the hem of his shirt.
He growled and lowered her back down to the mattress. Blood was thumping in his ears as he kissed her with a passion he didn't know was there. Her whimpering moans beneath him kept him captivated and nothing else existed in the world except a small one bedroom apartment and this one girl, who was currently wrapping her legs around his waist. He didn't even try to fight it any more and pushed his shirt over his head, breaking their kiss just momentarily and working the buttons of her dress while her fingers clutched in his hair.
Afterwards, he would remember screaming her name, the sound of his name as she moaned in pleasure, the feel of her hands clutching to his back, the smell of her breath panting in exhaustion, the taste of sweat on her lips, the pulsing of his heart racing as though it threatened to burst out of his chest, and feeling more complete than ever before his life. He would remember gathering her against his chest and losing consciousness with her sleeping form wrapped in his arms.
It was all he never knew he always wanted and he would remember it all his life.
12:00 PM
He could swear he heard a pounding. Ugh… he must have one serious headache if he could actually hear the pounding. He should just stay asleep, that would fix it. If he didn't wake up, he wouldn't have to suffer the hangover. But he hadn't drank enough to have a hangover. It made no sense, but oh well. He'd stay asleep anyway. The pounding could go to hell.
It didn't go to hell. It didn't go anywhere for that matter. It just stayed right were it was annoying him and making him slip further away from nice sleep. He growled and gave a muffled "Go'way…" into his pillow.
"Time to wake up!" came a overly cheerful voice jarred him awake enough for light to assault his eyes. Inuyasha gave a yelp and rolled over on his belly, hiding his eyes from the horrible light. He flung an arm across the bed... and something was missing.
"Get up!" The voice yelled at him. He was going to figure this out. Problem one, an overly happy voice insisting he wake up and generally being a pain and causing murderous thoughts to rise in his mind. Oh… just Miroku. Ok. Now the other problem.
Things were all wrong. First it was too early for his liking and he was being coaxed out of bed by Miroku who he was pretty sure wasn't supposed to be here. Second, he had the distinct feeling that something was supposed to be here but wasn't and it had something to do with his arm stretching across his bed-his empty bed. Third… hadn't he locked the door last night to keep said Miroku out?
It all snapped together when the ice water hit him and he sat up like he was struck by lightning. "Kagome!" he called yelled and looked around frantically.
"Oh come on!" Miroku said holding a pitcher. "You didn't drink half as much as me so I know you weren't drunk enough to forget my name."
"How did you get in?" he asked.
"It's called a door…" Miroku said wondering why his friend looked so afraid. Granted, he wouldn't be walking on air if he was getting married in three hours either, but on Inuyasha, it was unnatural.
'What's going on?' Inuyasha thought miserably. Miroku was here with a tux. There was a wedding in three hours. And the one thing he wanted to see right now was no where to be found. He didn't remember the score anymore, but it was clear the universe had won.
***
It's the third hardest thing I'll ever do
Leaving here without you
***
Next Chapter: Improvisational Vows
The low down: This is a multipart song fic. The lyrics for each section will close each chapter. The song is a country song called "Holding Her and Loving You" and I think it fits quite nicely.
***
Love and Marriage
Chapter 1
Last Night of Freedom
"Set him up!" And the line of shot glasses filled with a well practiced flick of the wrist. A red-headed bar tender winked at Miroku as he pushed a drink at his friend and downed his own.
"What's the occasion, Sugar?" she flirted as he stuffed a folded bill in her tip jar.
"It's my boy's last night as a free man!" He threw an arm around his friends shoulder. Inuyasha sighed and closed his eyes so the stranger wouldn't see them roll. Miroku was trashed…. beautiful. He had staggered off the dance floor when he noticed the 'guest of honor' sitting alone at the bar. Now the only thing keeping the happy drunk on his feet was his hold on Inuyasha's comparatively sober shoulder. The bartender smiled as she sized the two up.
Subject 1: A young and sinfully good-looking man. He was absolutely striking with his long silver hair, which was tied behind his back and large golden eyes. His face was almost boyish with a subtle naivety, however presently he looked more irritated than childish. The fact that his friend was singing along to the overhead music in a key that had yet to be identified and was sloshing alcohol on his shirt was not easing the threat of assault in his eyes. She could imagine he'd be adorable if he were to blush. Sweetly innocent with just enough mystery and danger to make him intriguing; this man embodied every school girl's fantasy of a lover. Diagnosis: Bad for business.
Subject 2: A happy-go-lucky pretty boy. Holding himself upright with his friend's steadiness and giving her a grin that took up his whole face. This one would give up his wallet with the classic combination of booze and boobs. Perfect-- she had both.
"I see." she said, "So you're getting married in the morning?"
"Ding dong! The bells are gonna chime!" Miroku sang out and was promptly knocked to the floor. Inuyasha huffed and took his drink. He always had hated that song.
"What was that for?" Miroku pulled himself up the next barstool.
"You were about to knock me over, you drunken idiot!" Inuyasha growled.
"Aww… Relax! The party is for you… being with the same woman night after night for the rest of your life. I'd be a grouch too if it were me, but at least I can celebrate the loss in competition." Miroku laughed and ordered another drink with a grin plastered once again on his face. You see a lot of types behind a bar and before long you pick out patterns in your customers. These two were further evidence to the already proven golden rule of relationships; opposites always attract. Still with the glaringly obvious differences between the two, they seemed to suit each other. It was like the pretty boy was the Jose Cuervo, and his friend the salt and lime. But all sentimentalities aside… a girl has to make a living and rent was getting more and more expensive.
"I'll bet a cutie like you never had to worry much about competition though."
Ahh yes… she was good at this game. A pleasantly surprised Miroku did his best to smile seductively in his inebriated state. She noticed his attempt which failed miserably as he couldn't seem to raise his eyes up past the dip in her shirt collar. She found him quite charming however when he placed more bills in her jar. Miroku couldn't help wondering about this nagging thought that he was forgetting something, but all his thoughts seemed to go away gazing into that beautiful face…. wait… he wasn't looking at a face… oh well. Faces weren't that interesting. Eyes, nose, mouth-- you've seen one, you've seen them all. What he was looking at was far more fascinating anyway.
Inuyasha shook his head finding himself the furthest thing from his best friend's mind. If Miroku didn't notice he was around, chances were no one else would either. So slipping a dollar across the bar and silently complimenting the woman on her tactics, he excused himself from his own party. He claimed his jacket at the clubs front door and gave one glance back at Miroku and the ambitious bar maid. She was pretending to laugh and Miroku was howling at his own humor.
'Just keep laughing man.' He thought grinning, 'Keep tipping and she'll laugh at all your stupid jokes until your bankrupt.'
The club bouncer nodded to him as he stepped out into the street. "Hey," Inuyasha called to him and fished around in his pocket for something, "I need a favor. I have a friend in there, his name's Miroku, pretty sure you'd know him" the bouncer chuckled and nodded. Yeah… they knew that one well. "He's not in any condition to drive home." Inuyasha handed the bouncer some bills and smirked. "After your bartender's done with him, I doubt he could afford it, but I'd like to make sure he takes a cab home."
"Sure, no problem" the bouncer said. "I heard this was your bachelor party too. Good luck, man!"
"Thanks.." Inuyasha said and turned down the dark streets toward his home.
1:00 AM
He checked his watch. It was pretty early for this part of town, but it was eerily quiet. Usually there would at least be a few barhopping drunks loitering in the alleys, but nothing. He shrugged it off . Most people would be afraid to walk alone at this time of night, anyway, and they probably should be. Inuyasha hadn't ever been one to be taken by a street criminal and never worried much about think of them. Besides, his apartment was only a few blocks away as he and Miroku had noticed on several occasions it was perfectly within stumbling range after a night at a bar.
'I'm getting married in the morning…' his thoughts played, 'Ding dong, the bells are gonna…SHIT!' he growled. Oh yes, he was going to kill Miroku for getting that stuck in his head. Stupid friends!
A scream ripped him from his murder plots. His whole body tensed and he searched the dark streets. "Please no!" he heard in an alley up ahead and shot towards the sound. A woman was being attacked. He whipped around the corner and found he was right. A young woman was being held between two men.
Situation Analysis: Two thugs. One big and ugly, the other meaner, smarter, and much the better looking. Each had a braid falling down their back although the ugly one had practically no other hair to speak of. Ugly was holding a girl in front of him, trapping her arms above her head. She was well dressed and very pretty. Other thug stood in front of her with a look suggesting far worse than just a robbery.
Conclusion: These two really needed their asses kicked.
"A pretty thing like you really shouldn't be wandering around places like this all alone." The man said and stroked the side of her face while she looked at him and seemed to want to vomit. "You could run into the wrong type of guys, couldn't she brother?"
"Oh yes!" The ugly one agreed. "Very dangerous for pretty women to go out alone."
Kagome really did feel like she would puke. It would serve this jerk right, and if she couldn't stop him, at least it would make it very unpleasant. 'I won't cry. I won't cry. I won't cry. I won't cry.' She repeated in her head as she did her best to squirm away from the man holding her. It was no use though, he was several times the stronger and she couldn't maneuver herself to strike him with her legs.
'Please don't let this be real!' her mind screamed as the other one stroked her face and came closer to her. She hated his face. He was just staring at her with sickening misogynistic cruelty. His face was so smug and cocky. So damn arrogant and spiteful. "Get your damn hands off her!" So crumpled and bashed and full of fist…. What?! She didn't get a chance to figure it out, because the thug that had been holding her roughly threw her against a wall and the back of her head bashed against brick.
Inuyasha watched them run away. 'Fucking cowards!' he mentally spat. He had caught them by surprise and punched the one in front of her clean. It felt like he may have broken the bastard's cheekbone. Good. The second had flung the girl aside and went to attack him but lost all the air in his lungs with a jab to the stomach and most of his teeth with a clean uppercut. With a second wind, the formerly pretty one rushed at him, but Inuyasha managed to dodge and send the attacker to the dirt with a hit to the back as he went past.
"Hiten! Let's just go" the ugly one insisted and pulled his brother to his feet. The fight belonged to Inuyasha and they best just retreat before someone in the bars called the police to report a disturbance.
Inuyasha smirked confidently. He always did love the element of surprise. Those two had been completely off guard to any outside attack, they were so focused on… the… Oh yeah! The girl! He whipped around to see her slumped on the ground, head against the wall. She was out cold.
"Wait!" he yelled and shook her shoulders. "Don't faint on me you stupid girl! Wake up and tell me where to take you." She wasn't waking up. Damn. He rolled his eyes and glared at the universe over head. 'Why me, huh?!' The stupid universe was out to get him again and had just earned a point. Not knowing what else to do, Inuyasha sighed and took the unconscious girl in his arms and walked out of the alley. He'd take her back to his apartment and see if he could wake her up. Then maybe he could take her where ever she belonged.
Getting in the building turned out to be a trick. He hadn't ever thought about it before, but it was actually hard to get a door open with a girl laying in your arms. Movies and television had lied to him, the traitors. The stairs to his apartment were even harder and he wondered what why he hadn't rented a ground level. Oh yeah--he had wanted the view.
He managed to navigate his way up to his apartment and was adding a point to his score against the universe when he realized he was face to face with yet another locked door. Crap. Another point went to the universe.
Inuyasha set the girl on the floor with her back to the wall and dug in his pockets for his key. She grunted and quickly lay down and tried to snuggle against the wall. "Hey! Are you conscious yet?!" he yelled at her. She grunted again and pouted as she rolled on her side in a more comfortable position on the hard floor. He growled at her sleeping form. The nerve of this girl! Grunting at him like he was some annoying alarm clock. Stupid, irritating, insolent, unconscious girl!
He picked her up again and propped the door open with a foot as he carried her in, careful not to bang her head against the door frame. The last thing he needed was to give her a concussion. She would just be out longer. He laid her down on his bed and sighed. In sleep, she situated herself and found his pillow.
"Now look!" he said sternly. "Don't get comfortable! You better just wake up and tell me where the hell to take you." Her answer was a sigh as she snuggled into his pillow which irritated him even more. He was about to yell at her some more when he managed to catch the smell on his clothes and had to suppress a gag. This was the worst thing about bars, the god awful smell of smoke that saturated your clothes afterwards. There was no way he could stomach this smell for long and he would have to change before he could think of anything to solve this new problem in his life. The smell hit him again. 'Ok, and maybe a shower.' He thought.
"You!" he pointed at the sleeping girl. "Just…don't go anywhere until I figure this out. When I come back, you're out of here."
His apartment was pretty modest considering his disposable income, but it was more than he needed. The rest of the money was spent mostly on a food budget, and he had the larger stock of instant ramen noodles than the space program. It happened to be the only thing in the world he knew how to prepare, but he never really cared to learn to cook anything else. Through his college years, he had stayed alive because of instant ramen noodles. He was immensely thankful to the product.
A one bed, one bath flat with a small living area with a sliding glass doors leading out to a balcony. Modest, but with a great view of the city lights at night. His brother hated where he lived and he liked that just fine. It meant he wouldn't have to deal with snobby relatives showing up unannounced. Besides, the location already proved functional. 'Oh right… Miroku.' He thought as he walked out of his bathroom in some fresh sweat pants and T-shirt. If his friend staggered in to his apartment from the bar and saw an unconscious girl, Miroku would never let him forget it. No matter how drunk he got, Miroku always had a way of remembering these kind of things.
He locked his door.
5:00 AM
He stirred in his sleep as the strange sounds continued. He thought he had been aware of them for a while now, but they were louder and more insistent and pulling him closer to consciousness. He opened his eyes slowly and was confused. He was sitting up. That was strange. Why wasn't he in his bed? Oh, someone was already in his bed. That made sense… wait… no it didn't! Who was in his bed and why were they tossing around and whimpering?!
'Oh right!' he remembered 'That girl.'
She was shaking. She tossed her head from side to side whimpering. Whatever she was dreaming, it must be horrible to scare her like this. He went to her and sat on the side of his bed. She looked terrified and it tugged at his heart slightly. Poor girl, she had just been attacked in a dark alley and all he had done was yell at her and be annoyed with her. Wait… why was he feeling guilty all of a sudden. Besides, she had been unconscious, it wasn't like she could hear him.
"Hey," he whispered, "hey calm down. It's alright. You're safe now." He reached up and touched her face gently. As soon as his fingers grazed her cheek, her eyes shot open and she gasped. He recoiled in shock and she pushed herself away until she hit his headboard. She looked around her into the dark room frantically and not recognizing her location, she looked even more like a frightened animal.
"Please…" she whispered in terror, "I'll give you whatever you want, just don't…"
"Hey hey hey!" he held up his hands to stop her. "I'm not going to hurt you! I promise." She pulled his sheets close against her chest and watched his every move. "Look, you were attacked in the alley, do you remember?" She shuddered and nodded.
"He tried to… tried to" she stuttered but he stopped her.
"Don't think about it. It's over now. I-I heard you scream and I saw them. But once they knocked you out and I didn't know what to do with you, so I brought you back to my place." He smiled and turned his body towards her to show her he had no weapon and demonstrate he wouldn't hurt her. It seemed to work a little and she relaxed just slightly, but she was still gripping his sheets in her fists like her life depended on it. "I tried to wake you so I could find you how to take you back to your home, but you were completely out. I couldn't think of anything else but let you sleep."
"You--you saved me?" She looked up from her hands into his eyes.
"It wasn't a big thing." His face softened. "Guys like that need to get the crap beat out of them." She looked troubled about something and it bothered him. "What?"
"What were you doing out there so late at night?" she asked skeptically.
"I was coming home!" he was snarling again. Women! Play the hero and they think you're a thug. That's gratitude. "If you must know, I was walking back from a party my friend was throwing. It was my stupid bachelor party that I didn't want to go to in the first place so I left early just in time to see some girl who was dumb enough to wander around this part of town alone at night get attacked by a couple of worthless thugs!"
"Oh." She said embarrassed. He noticed she was fidgeting with something at her shirt collar. She hadn't really meant to sound that accusing, but it had just come out. She needed some way to cover that up quickly. "So you're getting married?"
"Tomorrow." He nodded.
"Congratulations." She offered smiling.
"That's what they tell me." He wasn't actually pouting was he? Come on, he wouldn't be that childish. After all, she hadn't really meant it.
"You don't sound very excited." She said, "Don't you want to get married?"
He almost fell off the bed. "Do you always get this personal with people you don't know?!" he yelled.
"Sorry, sorry!" she played it off with a wave of her hand. He was a strange man, and she could tell he was stubborn and short tempered, but he had just saved her and kept her safe in his home. "My name is Kagome, by the way" she held out her hand to him.
He cocked his head to the side and gave her a funny look. "Inuyasha" he said finally. 'Strange girl...' he thought.
"So why don't you want to get married?" she asked again with determination and almost sending him off the bed again.
"Again with the personal questions!" he roared.
"Well we know each other now!" she yelled back at him, but quieted herself quickly enough. "You do love her don't you?"
Inuyasha suddenly felt like his T-shirt was trying to strangle him. "Look why do you want to know?"
"Well if you're about to marry someone, you should be able to say that you love them without having to think about it." She said and suddenly looked conspiratorial. "Did you get her pregnant?"
"NO!" This time he really did fall, but was up and towering over her with malice in half a second. He decided that this girl and Miroku would probably get along just fine.
"So why are you getting married?!" she yelled at him before he could say the million mean things running through his head. Why did she have to have all these annoying questions… worse yet, why was she making him ask himself the same things? 'No!' he snapped at his mind, 'No, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to think about this. Now is not the time to think about this. I don't have to explain myself to her. I don't even know her! It's none of her damn business anyway! I am NOT talking to her about this.'
"Because she wants to marry me." He said quietly.
Damn brain. It never listened to him!
"But when you proposed to her, what were you feeling then? You must have wanted to marry her then." Kagome insisted.
"It wasn't really like that." He said, more to himself in memory. "She asked something about what I saw of our future. I hadn't really thought about it, but she asked if I could see us being married. I had known her all my life. It felt like I had always been with her. How would being married really be that different?"
There it was. It seemed so simple all of a sudden. He was silent after that and just looked off into space. This girl was making his whole life turn upside down so quickly. She made everything seem so simple.
"She must really love you." Kagome whispered in the silence, playing with her collar again. She seemed to play with it in what he guessed was uneasiness.
"Yeah, I know she does."
"You're lucky then." She said, "It's hard to find someone to love you and who will be good to you. You should be thankful to her."
"You don't…" he stuttered not thinking what the girl was suggesting was possible.
"No." She said with a sad smile and messed with that thing at her collar again. "I don't have anyone who loves me, so you should be thankful you do. I haven't ever loved anyone either." She looked at him and felt like he was trying to catch her in a lie. "I don't mean I haven't dated! It's just that I never cared about anyone enough to want to commit to them."
Finally he noticed what exactly what was around her neck. She was fingering a chain around her neck and he noticed a round violet jewel bouncing at her chest as she fidgeted with it. It seemed to be precious to her if she would toy with it everytime she was uncomfortable about something."You must have cared for one of them" he pointed to it, "to accept a gift like this?" His finger brushed against her collar bone as she turned away from him slightly.
"No," she blushed, "nothing like that." Kagome held the jewel in her palm. She looked as if she were about to cry when she looked into the jewel. "This was a very old gem called the 'Shikon.' It's the jewel of four souls. My family has had it forever." She glanced up and gave him a smile, but her eyes were glistening. " My grandfather could tell you some ancient legend about it somehow, he puts so much faith in the old stories and never gets rid of anything. Just about everything at my home has a bizarre history." She smiled at some private memory and Inuyasha imagined him to be quite an interesting old man and smiled with her. But suddenly she really did look like tears were about to flow. He had to restrain his instincts to reach to her. "My dad had this necklace made for my 15th birthday. He died a month later."
"I'm sorry," he said, and couldn't think of anything else to say.
"It was a long time ago" she smiled at him.
This was something he wasn't used to handling. What do you say to someone when you they tell you they lost a father? But it felt as if he should say something. Surely there was some perfect thing to say at this moment that was just escaping him. It was an insistant tugging at his heart to help, but really what could he do? It's not like he could just go back in time and stop the pain from happening. "Do you…" He was lost. 'Say something, idiot!' his mind commanded.
"Miss him?" She offered smiling sadly. "Yeah, I always will." This was uncomfortable for him and she knew it. She didn't know why she even brought it up in the first place. She didn't need sympathy or someone to lean on. It had just come out and she was sorry to make him edgy with the knowledge. 'Please don't act like you have to be cautios and careful of my emotions.' she thought, 'I'm not a little china doll. I'm not going to break. I don't need anyone trying to protect my heart.' "Don't worry, I'm fine. It was a long time ago. I don't really know how to explain it, but there's just something that never really went away. That's all."
"I don't think I understand." He said.
"Well, family is unconditional. It's a kind of love that accepts you without question." He watched her trace patterns on his sheets as she reached back into her memory. "He always used to tell me that when I was born, and the doctors came and told him it was a girl, he couldn't have been happier. He had always wanted to have a little girl and he had gotten exactly what he had always wanted with me." She smiled but added as an after thought, "Oh! Not that he didn't love my brother just as much when he was born. But it wasn't the same thing, you know?"
He nodded but didn't know what she meant at all.
"I guess that's what I think love is. It's not finding some perfect person and then let all the little things disappoint you. It's knowing that the person has all those annoying little things but accept them as part as the person you love. Then, it's like you love even those imperfections because they belong to the one you love and they really do become perfect to you." She was still fidgeting with the bed sheets and looking at her hands.
A hand traced the line of her jaw and pulled her face back up to meet two intense and uncertain eyes. She could feel his breath against her lips and she smiled up to him. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "You probably don't care about all this and I don't know why I'm telling you. I haven't really talked about this before."
"I don't mind." Inuyasha said while tracing the lines of her face. 'What am I doing?' he thought savagely, 'Pull away, idiot! Pull away!' His body wouldn't listen to him. So close-she was right there, only inches away from his mouth. Her breath was fast and warm against his skin. She was unsure as well, but he took it as some good sign that she wasn't pulling away either. He had to stop! He had to put some distance between the two of them. He didn't know what was happening that made him lose his senses all of a sudden, but every rational capability he had left was screaming at him to stop.
He needed to look away from her eyes: sweet, innocent, mossy gray eyes staring through him. He had to force his hand away and stop touching her smooth, soft, completely perfect porcelain face. He couldn't focus on her sweet little candy lips that she probably hadn't even realized she had parted. He just couldn't do this, there was no question about it.
He kissed her.
It was soft, barely touching and he held it before gaining the nerve to add pressure. He felt her sigh in relief and return his pressure. His strong hand gripped in her hair to support her head as she craned her neck back while the other pulled her close at the small of her back. He felt her tongue gently tasting his lips and he turned his head to deepen the kiss and capture it. An unfamiliar passion was taking him and he doubted he could keep it subdued.
Kagome was almost just as lost. Here she was with a man she had only met that same night and was kissing him with a passion she never realized she could muster. She was frightened of the aching he was causing within her, but she wanted it to stay. She wanted to pull herself closer to him and to feel more of whatever he would cause to stir inside her. She clasped her hands behind his neck and pulled herself closer. No wonder that girl wanted to marry him so much if… WAIT!
"No!" her hands went immediately to his chest and pushed him hard. "No! This isn't right." She told a very confused and disoriented Inuyasha.
"Wha… what?" he panted.
"We can't do this" she scooted away and hugged herself. "It's wrong. You're getting married tomorrow."
His eyes bulged and he remembered. He had forgotten! He had actually forgotten that he was supposed to marry Kikyo in ten hours. 'Shit!'
"You're right" he said and held his forehead in his hand. So many thoughts and emotions were stampeding through his head right now, it felt like it would explode. This was wrong. This was very wrong. He knew it… so why did all this wrong with Kagome feel more right than anything he had ever felt before? He had only just met her! He had thought if he couldn't love Kikyo, he must just be incapable of it. That or it just didn't exist.
He cared for Kikyo yes, and would never hurt her for anything in the world. If things weren't right with her, then that must have meant they would never be right with anyone. She was the best he would ever possibly have. That was right and he knew it. That made sense. Kikyo made sense. With her, his life made sense, but then this girl comes along and nothing makes any sense. It was like waking up to a different reality.
He didn't understand it. It made no sense. But he didn't want to fight it.
"What if I was wrong?" he whispered. He cupped her cheek with his palm and smiled at as she sighed and leaned into his hand. "Is there any chance that this could be right?" He shifted to be closer to her and felt her hands push softly up his back. She was pulling him in closer to her as well. Their bodies were touching now and he could feel a quickened pulse thumping in his chest. He wondered just which of their hearts that was. Kagome was nervous and he could see she had never done anything like this before. He certainly hadn't.
She didn't protest when he kissed her again. She didn't stop him when he deepened it. She willingly parted her lips to him and tangled her fingers in his hair as they explored each others mouths. 'What am I doing. I can't do this.' Kagome tried to convince herself to act.'I can't believe this is happening. I should stop him. I know I should. But I just dont want him to stop.' She would pay for it later she knew. That was just fine as long as she had this happiness now. He had no objections when he felt nervous little hands pulling up at the hem of his shirt.
He growled and lowered her back down to the mattress. Blood was thumping in his ears as he kissed her with a passion he didn't know was there. Her whimpering moans beneath him kept him captivated and nothing else existed in the world except a small one bedroom apartment and this one girl, who was currently wrapping her legs around his waist. He didn't even try to fight it any more and pushed his shirt over his head, breaking their kiss just momentarily and working the buttons of her dress while her fingers clutched in his hair.
Afterwards, he would remember screaming her name, the sound of his name as she moaned in pleasure, the feel of her hands clutching to his back, the smell of her breath panting in exhaustion, the taste of sweat on her lips, the pulsing of his heart racing as though it threatened to burst out of his chest, and feeling more complete than ever before his life. He would remember gathering her against his chest and losing consciousness with her sleeping form wrapped in his arms.
It was all he never knew he always wanted and he would remember it all his life.
12:00 PM
He could swear he heard a pounding. Ugh… he must have one serious headache if he could actually hear the pounding. He should just stay asleep, that would fix it. If he didn't wake up, he wouldn't have to suffer the hangover. But he hadn't drank enough to have a hangover. It made no sense, but oh well. He'd stay asleep anyway. The pounding could go to hell.
It didn't go to hell. It didn't go anywhere for that matter. It just stayed right were it was annoying him and making him slip further away from nice sleep. He growled and gave a muffled "Go'way…" into his pillow.
"Time to wake up!" came a overly cheerful voice jarred him awake enough for light to assault his eyes. Inuyasha gave a yelp and rolled over on his belly, hiding his eyes from the horrible light. He flung an arm across the bed... and something was missing.
"Get up!" The voice yelled at him. He was going to figure this out. Problem one, an overly happy voice insisting he wake up and generally being a pain and causing murderous thoughts to rise in his mind. Oh… just Miroku. Ok. Now the other problem.
Things were all wrong. First it was too early for his liking and he was being coaxed out of bed by Miroku who he was pretty sure wasn't supposed to be here. Second, he had the distinct feeling that something was supposed to be here but wasn't and it had something to do with his arm stretching across his bed-his empty bed. Third… hadn't he locked the door last night to keep said Miroku out?
It all snapped together when the ice water hit him and he sat up like he was struck by lightning. "Kagome!" he called yelled and looked around frantically.
"Oh come on!" Miroku said holding a pitcher. "You didn't drink half as much as me so I know you weren't drunk enough to forget my name."
"How did you get in?" he asked.
"It's called a door…" Miroku said wondering why his friend looked so afraid. Granted, he wouldn't be walking on air if he was getting married in three hours either, but on Inuyasha, it was unnatural.
'What's going on?' Inuyasha thought miserably. Miroku was here with a tux. There was a wedding in three hours. And the one thing he wanted to see right now was no where to be found. He didn't remember the score anymore, but it was clear the universe had won.
It's the third hardest thing I'll ever do
Leaving here without you
***
Next Chapter: Improvisational Vows