InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dogs in Tokyo ❯ Chapter 33 ( Chapter 33 )

Chapter 33

Inuyasha and Kagome had arrived at the top of the shrine steps to view a swirl of activity in the forecourt. There were an unusually large number of shrine goers there; washing their hands and rinsing their mouths at the dragon fountain before lining up to go up to the haiden and ring the bell.

Instead of being open at the foot of the steps, and taking no advantage of the potential impulse customers, the shrine store had set up a small table to one side of the forecourt that was loaded with assorted votive plaques and lucky charms. The clerks seemed to be doing a brisk business with the cash box and looking quite harassed as they practically grabbed omikuji sticks out of patron’s hands and slapped back fortunes and change.

Kagome spotted the portly bulk of Iaosei-San, the ubiquitous shrine commissioner and source of the cashier‘s harried attitude. He was placing a few more cardboard boxes of Shikon-no-Tama key chains within easy reach. She frowned; Iaosei-San was always in the thick of things and could be relied on to ruffle feathers and just be generally bad for business. Sure enough, she could see him officiously reproving one of the attendants for taking an item from display rack to sell instead of handing out a previously boxed one. Both the attendant and the customer were looking contrite and shuffling their feet by the time he was done.

Kagome sniffed in irritation at the man and scanned the milling crowd to find Jijii-Chan standing with a small knot of men before the entrance to the haiden, giving brisk snaps to his tamagushi wand with its fluttering paper strips. People were crowding near, waiting to enter but a small scaffolding had been erected across the front of the haiden and the plaited rope of rice straw with its twisted paper streamers was in the process of being lowered. By craning her neck, she could see a couple of men obviously waiting with the new one carefully held between them. A small bonfire had been lit to one side and one of the oldest shrine members stood near it, shooing Souta and a group of his friends away.

Kagome tugged Inuyasha in that direction before she released his hand and made her way over to Souta’s side through the press of people, “Souta, where’s Mama?” She had to raise her voice to be heard over the hubbub. Souta turned reluctantly but gave a welcoming grin when he saw her.

“Kagome, you’re back, but where’s Inu-no-nii-Chan?”

Kagome blinked and looked around, but the hanyou was nowhere in sight. “He must have snuck off, he wasn’t feeling well.” Covering her concern, Kagome turned back to Souta, “I want to talk to Mama. Where is she?”

Souta looked solemn and pulled a long face. “Looking for you Onii-San, and getting very embarrassed. There is a lady here about the wedding and Mama needs you here too. Something about your dress.” There was a ragged cheer behind him as the old shimenawa garland was fed into the flames and Souta turned quickly to get a look at it and cheer with his friends but Kagome pulled at the back of his shirt and dragged him, protesting, out of the crowd of onlookers.

“Oh, Souta, it’s not like you haven’t seen that a hundred times before. If that lady is here about my wedding kimono then I’m going to need help getting it down from the top of Mama‘s closet. You know how heavy it was when we put it away.”

“Yeah, but, Inu…”

“Inuyasha doesn’t feel good and needs to rest,” she interrupted, “his arm is hurt and Sesshoumaru injected him with poison.“

Souta stopped dead in his tracks, causing her to look back at him, “Why would he do a rotten thing like that?”

“Like what?“ She demanded, “It’s not like it’s anything new and it wasn’t even really on purpose,” she added in response to Souta’s stare. “He was aiming at me.”

“Well, is Inuyasha going to be all right? It seems so weird that Inuyasha‘s big brother would go through all that trouble contacting Inu-no-nii-Chan and then try to poison you.”

“Of course Inuyasha‘s going to be all right, he just needs to get some extra sleep and stay away from using that arm for a wile. It’s just that Sesshoumaru was a little upset, that’s all. He always seems to lash out like that. But now the kimono lady is here to help me learn how to manage the wedding kimono and I need someone to help me get it down so you’re it. Besides, if you help me with handling the dress this afternoon I’ll get Inuyasha to help you with your math homework,” she added craftily.

Souta stopped resisting and started moving with her. “Finally admitting he’s better at math than you? Does he know that?”

Kagome frowned at him and shook her head. “He’s just going to have to find out when I ask him to help you. It’s not like I’m not good at anything. I can do lots of things that he can’t.”

“Oh, yeah? Name one.”

Fortunately, they had made their way through the back shrine gate and to their house and Kagome was much too busy getting inside to present herself to her mother and the kimono lady to answer.

Higurashi-San greeted her daughter with obvious relief, “Kagome, there you are! All your other business taken care of?”

Kagome could see a middle aged woman looking inquisitively at her beyond her mother’s shoulder and gave a quick, social smile as she answered, “Rin’s fine now, and Houjou-Kun and Ryosei-Chan seem to have gone off with Jukuryo-Sensei. Mama, this is...”

“I am your dresser,” the kimono lady said. She had been hired from the local beauty parlor where she held a contract and was not so sure she should have taken this commission. True, the job as outlined was on unusually easy terms and the Shinto ceremony only was to be observed but the bride was terribly young; not yet out of her teens. “Higurashi-San, does Kagome-Chan have the correct hedajuban? I understand that this wedding kimono is an heirloom from the groom’s family. The undergarments may need adjustment.“

Higurashi-San hurried to reassure her as Kagome wondered why she wasn’t questioned herself. Kagome was right to wonder a bit and would have been annoyed had she only known the kimono lady’s thoughts as she studied her client.

The dresser had to admit to herself that Kagome looked innocent enough and had excellent manners with a graceful way of tilting her chin up, never acknowledging her slender lack of inches. But there was something very improper about this hurried early wedding. She studied Kagome for any tell-tale signs of pregnancy but was unable to draw any conclusions. ‘Have to instruct her to keep her chin and eyes modestly down ,‘ the kimono lady noted mentally. Aloud she said, “Your Mother asked me here before the wedding to teach you how to wear your kimono and act decorously.” She paused and smiled in a professional manner, “Your mother also tells me that the kimono you will wear is of a very ancient design and may create difficulty in management so, we will see it and try it on tonight.”

Kagome’s mind spun back to the Heian-era Itsuitsu-ginu waiting for her and could only agree, “Yes, it seems very difficult, now that I think of it. Do you want me to have it brought down to the living room?”

“Of course we can just look at it here in your living room. Just wear the undergarments you expect to wear for the wedding and we’ll have it sorted out. I’ll know better how to press it if it’s been in storage once I‘ve seen it. I have brought a portable rack to hang it on until the wedding and I’m sure you’ll know not to touch it and keep it covered once it‘s hung.” Her voice was calm and self assured, with the slightly condescending tone that is often of comfort to uncertain customers.

Kagome did not find it a comfort and felt vaguely like she was being patronized but went up the stairs with Souta in tow obediently enough. Souta insisted he could manage the weight of the kimono himself and went to her room to change into her hedajuban and a yukata.

Popping into her room she wasn’t overly surprised to find Inuyasha already there on her bed. He was lying on his side with his injured arm thrown up above his head. He seemed to be asleep and didn’t stir as she pulled off her shirt and started wriggling out of her pants. She turned to look at the built-in cupboard above her bed, her hedajuban was stored in there along with her out-of-season clothes. There was no way to get to it without leaning across the bed and disturbing the sleeper.

She glanced at his sleeping face, the sweet one that only she ever got to see, her private Inuyasha. Maybe, if she moved very slowly, she eased up to the side of the bed and leaned carefully across it to reach the latch of the cupboard.

Unseen, below her, Inuyasha let his eyes shift open just a fraction, lashes shadowing the glistening gold of his iris. The corner of his mouth that was against the pillow curved up at the view that was being presented before his nose. He had never noticed the little pink bow on the front of her panties before. He watched her stomach muscles tense as popped the cupboard softly open and started to feel around on the shelf inside.

He was about to pounce, injured arm or no, when a muffled thump sounded from the other side of the wall and brought Kagome back upright.

“Souta, are you O.K.?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, this is just awkward.”

“Well, just hang on a minute, I’ll help you,” she swiftly started wrapping the hedajuban about herself and noticed the scowling hanyou staring at her. “Oh, sorry, Inuyasha. I’m going to be doing kimono fitting so you stay up here O.K.?”

The hanyou snarled a silent reply as he watched her curves being covered up in some kind of garment that seemed to be padded in order to conceal her shape by widening her waist and flattening her bust. It made her look a bit sausage-like. What kind of demented outfit was that? Kagome obliviously pulled an old cotton yukata out of her closet and fastened that around her too.

“Inuyasha? Are you listening?”

“Yeah, whatever,” he sighed disgustedly. “You’re going to stay at the shrine, right?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t go anywhere in an old thing like this.”

He rolled an eyeball at her standing there, completely concealed in layers of fabric from prying eyes. ‘Take it off,‘ was what he wanted to say. Of course she wasn’t going anywhere in public; she wasn’t nearly naked enough. “Fine, just so long as you stay put. I’m going to sleep now.” And with that he rolled so he was facing completely away from her and settled down with an irritable grunt.

She shrugged at his ill temper and went out to help the struggling Souta as he labored with the package in the hallway.

Downstairs the kimono lady sat alone in the living room, hands folded patiently, and silently ticked up the hourly charges by the minute while she was waiting; it always made her feel calmer and more willing to wait. At twenty minutes, however, she was ready to follow the family up the stairs and inquire politely if she could possibly help. The girl was so young, could she actually have taken the dress out of the box and scattered the pieces? The idea of this child-bride playing with her wedding kimono was distressing.

She was just rising to follow up on that thought and was stopped by approaching voices, “Finally.”

“Mou, Souta, watch your step; you’ll get it all dirty.”

“Ane-Chan, I’m doing the best I can. You want to carry it?”

“Souta, I just mean don’t drop it. It can’t get dirty!”

“It’s heavy!”

“Stop, stop! You’re stepping on a string, lift up…there, now, go down.”

“I can’t see, Kagome.”

“Well, if you would step more carefully…”

The kimono lady emerged from the living room and watched as a tottering bundle of white made its way down the stairs in the arms of someone with jean clad legs and the girl, Kagome, circling about it anxiously. She walked up to the foot of the stairs and extended her arms to receive the package. With a trifle more maneuvering it was passed down to her and she nearly sank under the load. It had to be twenty pounds at the least.

Kagome gave vent to a sigh of relief as she saw the undoubtedly competent dresser take on the load of the kimono and bounced down the stairs in its wake. They arrived in the living room to the dresser’s relief and swept aside Jijii-Chan’s newspapers from the low table top. The dresser dropped to her knees with a plump and rested the muslin-wrapped bundle on the table before her. The thing had been wrapped in a flat sheet and wound about with loops of twine tied over pieces of cardboard and weighed more than twenty pounds. It was a pretty odd looking bundle for a wedding dress and the dresser frowned portentously as she set about untying the carefully-wound knot.

Souta and Kagome stood by ready to help because they knew what was coming. Making up the bundle after Inuyasha had spread it out on the table for them to see it the first time had taken a couple of hours and had caused their mother to go and lie down and refuse to make dinner. Usually, that only happened when she was sick.

The dresser watched somewhat dubiously as the bundle seemed to expand after the ties were released and carefully folded the white sheet back to cover the table. There was some blue tissue paper after that and then, and then-- there was fabric the like to which she had never seen. It seemed to be a folded, very old style kimono right enough; but, the thing had been packed layered in situ, as if it was of many components and the first layer seemed to be the purest white silk gauze. She lifted it up and kept her face perfectly still as the gauze unfolded to reveal itself to be a wide loose jacket with brocaded patterns of sea waves and trotting animal figures.

“This is a wedding kimono?” she inquired, somewhat tonelessly as she carefully laid aside that piece and bent to observe the subtle graduations of color and stiffness of fabric of the various robes.

“Yes, it is from my husband’s family.” The young girl answered with her hands behind her back but with a faint defiance to be seen in the lift of her chin. The dresser turned, reassessing her: she had thought that she was dealing with a shrine family dealing with an obstinate girl that was having to be married off in a hurry but she was rapidly having to change her opinion. That wedding dress was a medieval robe worthy of the nobility and, well, this thing was over her head. True, she had seen some demonstrations of medieval robes at some seminars, but…She thought hard a minute. The generous commission was very hard to even consider giving up: wait, while she had taken her traing there had been an elderly instructress who was from a kabuki family. Maybe she… the decision taken she turned back to this puzzling young woman and said, “I’m sorry, I must make some phone calls. We may have to get someone in to consult.”

Kagome nodded in agreement and listened as the woman talked excitedly over her cell phone and, within a few minutes was helping the kimono lady to refasten the itsuitsuginu’s wrappings and shuffling it out between them to the woman’s car, all thoughts of having promised Inuyasha to stay home gone from her head.

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