InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Marriage of Convenience for Whom? ❯ Memory Faults ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha is the property of Viz Productions and Rumiko Takahashi.

 

Thanks as always to all my reviewers: baka_mai_28, jullun, LiLaZnCrAzYgUrL216, X.x.X.Nymphet.X.x.X, Brownieluver23, negri87, MyInuYashaObsession, child of the silvery moon, Myr-Myr, KaIvAaL  

 

Sassa: Yeah, good catch on the eye color thing—I think when I was editing I thought there was something off, but I could not place what it was. I had to go back and change it, but I'm glad you noticed so soon. My bad. Your general stream of ideas about the story is very helpful in that it keeps me thinking about new angels. While I'm at school I can't bounce ideas off my sister, so having someone else's view point is extremely helpful. Xiexie (Mandarin for thanks—kind of).

 

Autumn_the_Reviewer: Thanks for taking time out of your vacation to review. That is dedication. Have fun wherever you are.

 

Rose of Sharon: I wish you could give me cookies too. Lol. Oh well, it's the thought that counts.

 

srg1: I'll keep Mr. Kikyou in mind. And yes, they will need therapy after all this. Maybe I could do a sequel with all their therapy sessions or something. Although I don't know how interesting that fanfic would go. Lol.

 

Sakura onto Hitomi: yeah, congrats on graduation to you too. I personally can't wait for mine, but I do wish I could skip all the finals garbage.

 

 

Chapter 15

 

In a mercifully short amount of time, the limo pulled up in front of a fashionable club for the reception.

 

The newlyweds had only stepped out of the vehicle and things were already going badly.

 

Her foot had not hit the pavement when Kagome found herself being shoved along by Sango. Somehow Kikyou's assistant had materialized at the reception with a speed greater than what most would deem humanly possible. She already had everything set up, more fake guests waiting pose for the troops of paparazzi who had gathered like flies on a rotting carcass.

 

“What took you so long? We have to get the greeting line going!” With her hands on their backs, Sango pushed both Inuyasha and Kagome through a set of double doors. On the other side were pretty people, looking bored and jaded to Kagome as they lined up along the hallway.

 

The instant the “happy” couple was in place, the people in line began moving past them, pausing just long enough for their picture to be taken by a waiting photographer. They then moved on through another set of doors to go into the main room where dozens of white tables were waiting, along with a dance floor and a live band.

 

Kagome was surprised to actually recognize some of the people who were passing her. They were famous. More than one stopped to say something in a friendly tone, indicating that they personally knew Kikyou.

 

Are they in on the lie too? Her friends?

 

Then something occurred to her that both made her blood run cold and gave her the slightest sense of pride: she was acting well enough that they did not know the difference between herself and her sister. It was a compliment to her talent, but the thought that she was taking on the guise of her sister so naturally did not sit well with her stomach.

 

Kagome and Inuyasha stood side by side, their closest arms linked together. Kagome could not remember how they had gotten that way—if one of them had done it of if Sango had positioned their limbs as such—but there was somehow a sense of rightness in the gesture. Maybe it was because they were married or perhaps it was something different, deeper. As each guest came along, Inu would shake their hand, and Kagome would give a half hug, neither never moving apart or breaking the connection.

 

Being this close to him—its so comfortable. Like I know him better than I know I do.

 

Looking at Inu out of the corner of her eye, Kagome was surprised to find him staring right back at her. She gave him a faint smile before turning to greet yet another skinny model wearing a dress made from less than a yard of fabric.

 

Why is he looking at me like that?

 

She chanced another look when he was busy speaking to someone he seemed familiar with. He did not appear to be angry any longer; in fact his face looked more tired with creases of worry.

 

I wonder what he is thinking right now.

 

Probably that he has made a mistake, Kagome thought distraughtly. Sooner or later he is going to find out that I am not Kikyou, and then he will be very angry. Not to mention disappointed.

 

Inuyasha's thoughts were in fact distant from his anger. As he caught glimpses of his new wife when he did not have to schmooze another actor, he wondered about the woman on his arm.

 

We need to talk.

 

It was sinking in that he was married and that they had a lot of problems.

I'm married.

 

If she wanted to go on with her little “I'm Kagome, really Kikyou, but call me Kagome” act—for whatever reason—he would allow it. She might be more comfortable with things that way, but he could not be sure. They were married, they would soon be living in the same house, and when the time was right, she would tell him the answer to his many many questions.

 

Or he would go into a blind rage and demand to know what the hell she was pulling.

 

But right now, they needed to talk, get more acquainted.

 

She looked small and sad where she was standing, and Inuyasha knew that he was the cause for her melancholy. He had to think of away to get her to relax and then maybe she would open up.

 

He reached for her hand, sliding down their linked arms, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze with his own as he twined them together.

 

XXXXXX

 

Sango was flying.

 

She checked to make sure the servers were serving the correct finger foods in the specified order: the food was staggered so they did not run out. She made sure the dance floor was polished but not too polished—the last thing they needed was a super model with a busted hip. After checking that the band was ready to play the stipulated list of songs in the set order, she felt as though she could relax just for a moment.

 

However the instant she let herself sag on her feet, she felt a firm had grasp her backside.

 

Spinning on her heel, she was ready to attack who ever had groped her, but all she found was thin air.

 

No one was remotely close enough to have touched her and gotten away so quickly.

 

Maybe I'm imagining things, Sango reasoned. She was stressed and hung over….

 

Shrugging, she ended her moment's break and took off in search of the wedding cake so she could give the confection its final inspection.

 

XXXXXXXXXX

 

Once the last guest had been greeted and disappeared into the club, Kagome sighed in relief, grateful that the ordeal was finally over.

 

Turning to Inu, she found he was already heading toward the ball room of the club.

 

Before he got to the door however, Sango stepped through it, blocking his way. “And where do you think you're going?” Her hands were firmly gripping her hips, her tone demanding.

 

“To get a drink, can I do that?” The actor growled, his violet eyes practically flaring red for a second.

 

Sango, however, was nonplussed.

 

“No, Mr. Takahashi, you can not.” Whipping out her palm pilot, Sango began checking her ultra-meticulous wedding schedule. “We have to announce you, you and Ka—Kikyou have to have your first dance as a couple, and then—” she paused, considering the list of times and events. “I suppose you can have a quick drink after your dance—if you really must,” Sango's brow scrunched and her tone took on an air that said such a deviation could throw off all of her plans.

 

“That's just peachy, thanks,” Inuyasha growled.

 

Sango nodded, then spun on her heel, calling over her shoulder that they would be announced in a moment.

 

Inuyasha flipped off Sango's retreating back, muttering something that sounded like “fucking bitch” under his breath.

 

Kagome had watched their interaction in silence, but she was growing tired of Inu's behavior. “She's put a lot of work into this. You could cut her some slack.”

 

Inuyasha whirled around to find his wife there. He had forgotten her presence in his anger at being bossed around, and he glared at her for reprimanding him. Sucking in a deep breath he tried to calm the need to lash out at her, she was just protecting her assistant. We do not need a repeat of the limo.

 

“What's it to you? You're paying her to work, not be a bitch.” He said in a hostile yet civil manner.

 

Kagome had to stop herself from saying something stupid that would blow her cover. Right, I'm paying Sango because I'm Kikyou. Kikyou, channel Kikyou. “Maybe doing her job properly involves being a bitch to spoiled actors who can't wait five minutes for some watered down Vodka.” Her words surprised even herself. Since he was no longer yelling at her, Kagome somehow managed to drag up her own courage, forcing on the mask she used when she played Kikyou, and in the end found herself scolding her husband for insulting her friend.

 

Inuyasha huffed, muttering more curses under his breath. Secretly, he was glad the girl was no longer crying—her tears did something to him that he would rather not think about. It made his youkai claw against its human restraints, and he had a primal need to comfort his bitch.

 

But her defiance did not sit well with him either. Somehow, he knew he would rather loose any fight with her than see her cry, but for the moment at least he still had his pride as a man and a demon. With doubts about Kagome still wandering his mind, he could not give up that last strand of dignity. At least not yet.

 

He had a cutting remark on his lips, but before he could say anything, Sango burst through the doors. “Its time,” she said simply as she dragged them into place, side by side.

 

Inuyasha could not help taking Kagome's arm in his as they stepped into the ballroom where all of their “guests” were waiting. God, this woman confused his every emotion. One moment he wanted to pick a fight with her for the satisfaction of seeing how well he could get under her skin, the next he wanted to kiss her until they were both gasping for air.

 

It was safe to say she fucked with his emotions more than the use of the charms he employed to hide his hanyou form.

 

The lead singer of the band was saying their names, and everyone in sight was cheering, thousands of lights flashing as picture after picture was taken of their entrance.

 

Almost immediately they were swept to the center of the dance floor where Inuyasha and Kagome were forced to dance to something that had been declared to be “their song.”

 

For a moment—an unbearably long moment in from where Kagome and Inuyasha were standing—they were frozen, staring at each other. Neither seemed to know what to do or if the other would be receptive to their action.

 

In the end, Kagome looped her arms around Inu's neck, leaning her head onto his chest. She had seen Kikyou doing the same with her husband at their wedding. When she felt Inuyasha snake his arms around her waist, pulling her even closer, she knew they looked as they should—a happy couple.

 

Feeling her face so close to Inu made a sense of the familiar press against Kagome's chest. It was like she had been near him like this before, but that could not be. They had never been this physically close, and she had never felt this comforted by his presence—as she was at that moment. But even his scent triggered and unreadable memory.

 

All eyes in the room were on them—both could feel it. Inuyasha found himself longing to have his puppy ears back with their super human hearing. He knew people were whispering, but over the obnoxiously loud music he could not hear a word.

 

Instead, all his focus drifted to the small form he was holding in his arms. Her ear rested over his heart so he was certain she could hear how it beat at a nervous pace. Inuyasha realized with the thought how nervous he really was.

 

She makes me nervous—but in a heady, good way.

 

Tightening his hold on her waist, he heard Kagome gasp at the tender action. Inuyasha could not help but to smirk. He also could not stop his thumbs from caressing her sides. She blushed a little at the action.

 

At first, he was just going to brush it off. So what if his wife blushed?

 

But the more he thought about it, there was something to that blush that did not sit right with him. If she was a whore, using men faster than she could get them, why would she blush? Fuck, he had been closer to Kikyou than this a million times in their movies—touched her more intimately on set too.

 

And acting all innocent was not one of Kikyou's strong points. He had never seen her blush on cue.

 

What the hell is going on? He wondered, not for the first time.

 

This woman in his arms had to be Kikyou—a different side of her, but still Kikyou.

 

Because if she wasn't Kikyou then who was she?

 

XXXXXXXXXX

 

Again Sango had felt a distinct squeezing of her rear. Again there was no one around who could have possibly touched her.

 

Scowling, she went back to touching up some of the center places.

 

The mystery groper better not get too comfortable—she was on alert now.

 

XXXXXXXX

 

The instant the dancing stopped, Kagome and Inuyasha were whisked up to the table with the rest of their fake wedding party for toasts from the maid of honor and best man.

 

A bubbly, painfully thin red head with mounds of curls piled onto her head, stood and began to gush about the first time “Kikyou” had met Inuyasha. Kagome was fairly certain not only would her sister have never chosen the woman for her maid of honor, she probably would never have befriended the girl in the first place.

 

There was something about the sappy story of love and intrigue the red head was spewing that made Kagome's fiery mood dim and dampen. When the anger had melted away, there was only a fragile sadness left to hold her together. She went from wanting to strangle Inu to longing to curl into a tight little ball and just die.

 

Kagome wanted it to be her wedding. She wanted it to be the flowers and dress and cake she had chosen. She wanted it to be her best friend giving the speech. She wanted it to be her guy that loved her enough to marry her sitting next to her.

 

Not this mockery for film.

 

Abruptly, she stood from the table, leaving the guests to continue their bored gazes into empty liquor glasses. Everyone was too concerned with body shape to eat.

 

Still after Inuyasha left the table behind her, no one noticed any difference.

 

All the guests was too busy posing for the cameras.

 

XXXXXXXX

 

Kagome found what appeared to be the only dark corner and quickly nested there. Plopping down in all of the wedding dress's white lace and satin glory, she curled in on herself, sinking into the expanse of fluff. There was something comforting about the wedding dress down—it offered her a shield from every thing that was spinning around her as she crouched in the dark corner. Just there, for that moment at least, she could let every thing go.

 

Somewhere distant, the best man was finishing his short speech, people were clapping, and the band began to play again.

 

Kagome realized that she had been feeling the same way for a long time, and finally she could place a solid name on the emotion: loneliness.

 

For weeks, she had been cut off from the world she knew, then Kikyou and Sango had barely had time to talk to her in the recent days, and Inuyasha—or the Inuyashas—only seemed to complicate her feelings.

 

Pushing her back more firmly up against the wall, Kagome tried to rid herself of her lonely and angry tears. Nothing felt real anymore. There was nothing she could hold onto. She was not herself; she was not in a world where she felt even slightly comfortable.

 

Nothingness.

 

Drawing her legs into her chest, she pressed her forehead firmly into her knee caps. She looped her arms around her legs in a way that was so much more forceful than how she had recently held Inuyasha. Coiled into a tight ball, she felt a moment's reprieve from all the chaos of people and lights that had become her constant if unwanted friends.

 

Darkness.

 

More and more tears leaked from her eyes. She knew she could have sobbed as loudly as she wanted and no one would have heard her, but there seemed to be no point in a violent torrent of tears. Instead Kagome settled for a gushingly endless stream. The liquid from her eyes leaked from her lashes, staining the wedding dress.

 

She was getting ready to fall, she knew it.

 

There was no sure way to tell how much more she could take until….

 

A firm hand shaking her shoulder wrenched her from her depressing reprieve.

 

At first she expected to find Sango attached to the hand, but instead her eyes came face to face with Inu.

 

The deep violet gaze held what on any one else would have been concern, but why would Inu ever be concerned for her?

 

“Are you alright?” He asked as he knelt down next to her.

 

Kagome could barely manage a nod.

 

“You don't look alright,” he accused. Non-too carefully, he reached out and gathered her falling tears on his finger tips, holding the wetness up to her face in the dim light as evidence.

 

“Can't a girl cry?” Her forehead creased in a scowl.

 

“Weddings are usually happy occasions,” Inu countered. He copied her pose, folding his legs into his chest, hugging them tight with his arms.

 

“So you say.”

 

“You've been to a wedding where the bride ended up in the back room crying buckets?” He asked. This time, along with the annoyance, Kagome could have sworn she heard a hint of possible unease in his tone, but she could not be sure.

 

“No, but you would call this a wedding? Every place we go the guests change, Sango picked everything out, and then we're hardly—”

 

“Point taken,” Inu laughed. The action surprised Kagome. She was sure she had never seen him laugh before—genuinely laugh like this. Something in him had relaxed.

 

He has been under a lot of stress—his reputation was on the line and he had too get married on top of that mess. Maybe that was why he was such an asshole….

 

Maybe things will get better.

 

Kagome could not help smiling at the thought.

 

Thoughts of the other Inuyasha once again tried to rise up in her memory, but for once she shoved them down. She was married to the man in front of her now—Inu—and for as long as they were married she had to be faithful. No matter how much of a sham their marriage was.

 

“Do you regret getting married?” She blurted out the question. As she did, Kagome realized how much she needed to know the answer.

 

Inuyasha paused and Kagome could see he was regarding her intently.

 

“No,” he answered finally. “But I do regret the circumstances.”

 

“So you're ok with having to marry me?” She pushed.

 

Again, the genuine smile tweaked at the corners of Inuyasha's mouth. “No, I supposed I don't regret marrying you, Kagome.”

 

There was something about the way he said her name that made Kagome lean toward him without warning. Her lips connected with his in a brief kiss before they both pulled away.

 

For Kagome, there was something routine about being with the actor when he was like this nice; when he was being nice—like they had been friends for sometime. There was a fuzzy warmth that tickled her heart. It was a comforting feeling of the known as opposed to the general sporadic quality that was the usual manifestation of his behavior. When Inu was kind, it made her feel less lonely, less sad, less confused. He was in danger of becoming the something she could grasp in this entire mess.

 

But what if he doesn't want to help me?

 

Can't I at least pretend? If I can't be with Inuyasha right now, can't I pretend Inu is the one who wants me? This is all just make believe anyway.

 

Again, Inuyasha noticed that his wife's face was covered in a very distinct blush.

 

“You want to get away from here?” He found himself asking. He had been aching to leave since before they had arrived, and now that Kagome seemed to be in a little better mood—even if she wouldn't tell him why she was crying—he was ready to make a break for it. Once they were away from the wedding-ness of it all, perhaps they communicate without tears or anger.

 

“I thought you would never ask,” Kagome beamed, though worrying signs of sadness were still around the corners of her eyes. There really was something about Inu acting the way he was that made her feel better. Of course, anything was better than sitting in a dark corner crying or having him yell at her.

 

But he's an actor. What if he's acting sweet now? He's done that before. Marriage doesn't change people for the better.

 

Kagome chewed her bottom lip nervously for a moment.

 

You'll never know unless you try.

 

In spite of her conflicting thoughts, when Inu offered her his hand, she took it and he helped her to her feet. She still felt a little reluctant, but this time she was going to be cautious. At the very least, her new husband deserved one final chance.

 

But if he hurt her again, she was telling Sango, and the assistant could kick his ass.

 

XXXXXXXXXX

 

The said Sango swooped in on them the moment she saw them.

 

“Where have you been! We have to cut the cake!” Without waiting to see their reactions, Sango forcibly manhandled them to the seven-tiered wedding cake.

 

“Here,” she thrust the cake cutter into Kagome's hand and dashed out of the way of the cameras.

 

Approaching the cake slowly, Kagome felt another twinge of sadness, but it was quickly gone when Inuyasha stepped up beside her, slipping his hand over her's, she felt a little warmer. He wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest so they could move in unison.

 

Sliding the metal utensil into the soft white icing, Kagome and Inuyasha broke off one and then a second slice of cake. Carefully they each took a piece, looking questioningly at the other as they turned to face their new spouse.

 

A sudden glint appeared in each of their eyes and without warning, Kagome and Inu shoved cake at the other's mouth. Icing was smeared in all directions, slathered into the previously clean skin.

 

Both broke away, unable to control laughing at their actions. After several minutes of giggles and the crowd staring at them blankly, Inu drug Kagome to him in a one armed hug, swooping in to plant an icing-laced kiss on her forehead.

 

Quickly, she moved in his arms, pulling his face down to hers so she could return the favor.

 

The sound of someone clearing their throat brought the couple out of their moment. Looking over, they found Sango waiting with tapping shoe to haul them off to the next wedding festivity: throwing the bouquet.

 

On cue, the singer for the band announced that the bouquet was about to be thrown. Instantly, the dance floor was covered with female singletons. Kagome was taken aback by their numbers—there were so many.

 

With Inuyasha still by her side, she turned her back the mob of pushing and shoving girls. Without any warning, she chucked the flowers over her head.

 

Unfortunately, they flew over the grasping hands and were in danger of crashing into an ice sculpture of a gigantic swan.

 

On reflex, Sango took running from where she had posted herself. Launching herself into the air, she was just in time to tackle the cluster of flowers and ribbons and neatly roll out onto the floor, thus saving the swan from a certain shattered death.

 

Only when she was sure the ice swan was unscathed and she noticed the pack of seething girls glaring at her did she realize her mistake in catching the bouquet.

 

Shit, just what I need.

 

XXXXXXX

 

Careful to avoid any single women who might try to lynch her, Sango still managed to get Kagome and Inuyasha in place for the garter removal.

 

Sitting on a cold metal chair from the club, Kagome nervously looked down at the man kneeling before her.

 

There was something about the reception that had brought them closer together—or at least she thought it had. Unlike the time he had kissed her under the arch at the wedding venue, Inu didn't seemed to be posing for pictures or intentionally trying to say hurtful things. Instead, he was being careful with her. Almost like a friend.

 

It was nice.

 

I could get used to this.

 

But what about Inuyasha? The hanyou? Are you just going to forget about him? He may not even know you're married yet. What will he say then?

 

Can't I just have both?

 

Again, as the thoughts arose, Kagome pushed them back down. She wasn't allowed to think about Inuyasha right at that moment.

 

Not when Inu had his hands up her skirt and was slowly pulling down the scrap of lace and satin that made up her garter.

 

For the millionth time that night, she blushed.

 

This is soooo embarrassing—being felt up in front of all these people! Whose idea was this? When I get married for real—no, no, no garter!

 

Inuyasha finally removed the garter, slipping it off over her foot. Standing, in a gesture of cocky male pride he twirled it around his finger before chucking it out into the crowd of drooling men. Much like the bouquet that had preceded it, the garter zoomed over the hands and heads of the crowd, only to land delicately around the wine glass of a man standing alone.

 

Miroku looked questionably at the scrap of cloth for a second before he realized what it was.

 

There was a call from the band for the bouquet girl and garter boy to dance, and suddenly he found himself being shoved into the center of the dance floor.

 

People pushed and shoved a woman before him and in the time it took Miroku to recognize Sango as his dance partner, he also knew there was a good possibility that he was in deep shit.

 

XXXXXXXXXXX

 

Inuyasha took the opportunity of the distraction to lead Kagome out of the crowd of beautiful people to a secluded corner of the dance floor.

 

Tugging her close, he tucked her into his embrace, leading her head to his chest as he lowered his nose to her shoulder, coiling his arms around her waist to keep her in place.

 

If only I could smell right now.

 

The song was slow and probably romantic. The two just swayed to the music, for once not conscious of all the strangers around them.

 

I wonder if real marriage is like this. Kagome wondered. Peaceful and warm.

 

Lulled into a calm place, Inuyasha decided then was as good a time as any to begin making amends to the woman in his arms—to his wife.

 

“I'm sorry—for all the times before when I was a jerk.” Kagome did not try to move so she could see his face. She only gripped her small arms around his waist a little more. Inuyasha continued, “I promise—and I can't say I won't break this promise—but I'm going to try to be better to you. If for nothing else than for the sake of our marriage.” Breaking away, he looked down at her. “Who knows how long we're going to be stuck together.” Gently, he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

 

“I understand,” Kagome said. “I'll try to be a good wife—as long as we're stuck together.” Sighing, she gave Inu a final hug. “I just want to go away from all of this.”

 

His head resting atop hers, Inuyasha smirked. “We do have a jet chartered for the Mediterranean for our Honeymoon.”

 

Kagome smiled to herself. “And they say you should get to the airport long before your scheduled departure time.”

 

“Right, we should get going. We wouldn't want to be late.”

 

“Right.”

 

Unnoticed by anyone, the famous newly weds ducked out, disappearing from their own wedding reception.

 

XXXXXXXX

 

“Miroku?” Sango asked as she mechanically slipped into the man's arms, moving to the music. Other couples began to join them, and they were soon surrounded as they slow danced.

 

“Miroku, what are you doing here?” Sango stared, bewildered at the man she had only met last night.

 

Miroku wasn't sure what to say. He couldn't tell her he was at the wedding with Inuyasha—she had just seen him with the hanyou that morning. She could easily put two and two together. The fact that she had not yet surprised him. He recognized her from the time Inuyasha and Kikyou had run into each other at the supermarket and from the television shows. He wished she would remember him as well—though just not at that moment. It would be very bad for things if she found Inuyasha's identity.

 

In the end, he went for the lie. “I'm crashing. Saw a wedding, thought it would be fun.”

 

Sango did not buy it. “I'm not stupid. I can tell when someone is lying to me, and you are particularly bad at it.”

 

Fuck, Miroku inwardly groaned. She was making him very nervous. It was giving him the kind of anxiety that would make him say anything so he could escape.

 

“Well, my friend—and I…you know. And then…Inuyasha—I mean Yasha was…”

 

Sango was still looking at him as though he had a mental deficiency. “You know Inuyasha, the actor?” She asked suspiciously. It was the only thing she could make of his incoherent ramblings. “You weren't on the guest list.”

 

He tried to make a run for it, but Sango held him in place without any effort.

 

What was with this girl did she play football or something?

 

Miroku began having one of those moments. One of those moments one has when one is under extreme stress and will grasp at even the slightest straw that will lead them out of the predicament. “No, not the actor, my friend Yasha from this morning—Inuyasha.” He explained, trying to change the subject. However, the micro-instant the words were out of his mouth he knew they were a mistake. It was as though someone had lopped off the top of Sango's head and he could peek inside, seeing the gears turning as she did basic addition.

 

Miroku panicked.

 

In a last ditch effort to distract Sango, he groped her.

 

Unfortunately for him, the feeling of his hand on her backside not only distracted her, it triggered a string of connected memories Sango had long ago drove down with the help of wedding plans, late nights fueled by coffee, and worry.

 

It was like a divine vision, really.

 

A beautiful lucid stream of images pulled and locked together fluidly with vibrancy and coherency.

 

Kagome and a hanyou fighting over cereal. A man in black and purple laughing at them right before he grabbed her ass.

 

Miroku with the hanyou.

 

Standing in the wings of the television studio, watching the man opposite her as Kikyou and Inuyasha chatted on the couch.

 

Miroku with the actor.

 

Waking up in a strange house with Miroku and a hanyou.

 

Miroku here at the wedding for Inuyasha the actor.

 

And as her mind made all the sharp connections, her hand was fueled by the mental spark and her palm came down powerfully on Miroku's cheek, leaving a little red hand print.

 

Holy shit-eating fuck. Sango could not believe what her mind was telling her, but once the connection was made, it would not disappear, not vanish.

 

Inuyasha the actor was Kagome's hanyou.

 

Kagome was married to her hanyou and—

 

…And she didn't even know.

 

What does it mean?

 

With a horrified look in her face, Sango looked at Miroku. The man was nursing the red mark on his face, but his eyes reflected her own. He knew she knew what she knew.

 

Fisting the sleeve of his shirt she yanked him to club's kitchen. Sent him flying through the double doors might explain the action better.

 

“So you're Inuyasha's friend?”

 

He nodded, looking down unable to meet her gaze.

 

“And he's—”

 

Miroku nodded again, looking up at her. “Yes, and we would appreciate your silence.”

 

It was Sango's turn to nod. “I'll have to tell my boss, you understand. But not a word to the press.”

 

She flitted out of the kitchen before Miroku could decide if he should stop her or not.

 

XXXXXXXXX

 

Sango couldn't find Kagome or Inuyasha anywhere. She looked under tables, in the girl's favorite crying spot, outside.

 

The two had vanished.

 

When she called the airport on a whim out of desperation, she found that they had arrived before schedule and had already left on their charted plane.

 

Hitting the speed dial on her phone for her boss, Sango nearly cried out in relief when the actress picked up. “Kikyou, we have a problem.”

 

 

XXXXXXXX

 

A/N: Ok, this is officially my longest posting ever. 16 pages in Word. But I finally got in everything I wanted to get in for a chapter. Yay.

 

So as far as I know, fanfiction.net is being super slow with their updates—I just got reviews this morning that were posted earlier in the week. I'm pleased I got this chapter done at all, and its on time!

 

If it seems like Kagome is going through an emotional roller coaster. That really is my bad. I tried to fix it, but it came out that way. The last couple days haven't been the greatest, and I've been pissed off, disappointed, happy, lonely, and excited in very short succession. I guess that's to be expected when one is about to make a big change in one's life, and I think graduating from college counts. Hopefully Kagome and Inuyasha don't have too bad of mood swings, I really did try to fix them.

 

It occurred to me that it would be really easy to distinguish between hanyou and human by calling one “Inu” and the other “Yasha”. So that's why there was the change beginning in the last chapter and continued in this one. I know, I should have started it earlier if I was going to do it all, but at least I didn't drop it into the story completely randomly. I need this for my sanity as a writer.

 

Lastly, I might—MIGHT being the key word here—be taking a TINY little break from this story. Its been harder and harder to write the chapters, as I think you can tell by the shoddiness of this one. I just need a break to regroup before writing the end. I think I'm going to write the next chapter a little more slowly (since it is pretty relaxed content wise) and possibly work on this little one shot I've had in mind for a while, and then I'll write the end. From my outline, including the epilogue this story has about seven more chapters, but I might be able to condense a few of those. See, when I was doing my outline, I seemed to think if I could write “wedding/reception” on one paper line that they would easily fit into a single chapter. So I also have all of the complicated action/feeling descriptions on multiple line, but they might be able to be bunched together. You'll be getting the same number of events, but just in a shorter amount of time. Just have patience—and please not flames about the break (if I have one—I might get on a roll with this story. My muse is a fickle bitch). I understand rants and threats, but no personal jabs please.

 

As always, thanks for reading.