InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dogs in Tokyo ❯ Chapter 38 ( Chapter 38 )

Chapter 38

It was a noticeably conflicted Kagome that allowed herself to be bundled into the living room by her scolding mother. She couldn’t even really find a way to defend herself by attacking back with the fact that she hadn’t known how important the day was when she had gotten up that morning. She could tell only too clearly that her mother was wound up to a high pitch of nerves about the imminence of the wedding. All things considered, she, for one was glad that Rin was apparently along for the ride.

Perhaps it would be better that way. They always had said it was better to rip off a band-aid fast than to take it slow.

‘Not,‘ Kagome reflected, ‘that that had ever appeared to be really true, a steady pace seemed to be the best way. Maybe the metaphor was more appropriate about weddings.’ She scrunched up her brows about this as the two sets of shoji screen doors of the room were slid shut for the first time since her father’s funeral, closing the room off from both the front hallway and the kitchen, ’ “It is better to marry in haste than to…“No, no, that was wrong…’

A strangled shout and a reverberating thud sounded from the room above her. Positively frowning now, she tried again, ’ “Marry in haste, repent at…“ Not the one she wanted at all.’ A hand took a firm grip of her hair and started running a brush though it as she obediently spread her arms as she had been taught and allowed the white kosode to be slipped over them.

’ “Even monkeys fall from trees.” No, that was just stupid…’

A voice broke in upon her tangled musings, “Kagome-Chan, step into your trousers.”

Kagome glanced down to see her cream colored silk hakama in a careful pile on the floor and stepped in mechanically. The dresser from the Kabuki-za was kneeling before her and deftly raised them up as hands at her waist started working the ties from behind. A hair dryer started up in the corner and Kagome glanced over to see Rin looking mightily amused as Mama started using it on her wet kimono. With a slight start, she noticed that her mother was dressed in a fine sober blue kimono over a red collar although her hair hadn’t been done yet.

“Please, raise your arms again, Kagome-Chan.” The brisk, no-nonsense voice of the kimono lady made her jump, she raised her arms and felt the first of the layers slide up her sleeves, a matching cream. She stood stiffly and didn’t even flinch as the springs of her bed gave a series of protesting squeals although the kimono ladies hands faltered as she set the next, sand-colored, robe in place.

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing to worry about.” Returned the lady from the Kabuki-za. “I’m sure everything is fine.”

Kagome went back to her interrupted thoughts with a vengeance, ‘”Fall seven times, stand up eight.”’ Another layer went on as an even louder series of thuds sounded from above sounded as someone was trying to pound through the ceiling with a bowling ball followed by a voice thundering out, “Worthless scum!” A voice that ended in a weird, fading, howl.

Mama dropped the hairdryer and Rin put her hand to her mouth as a sudden silence, deafening it its proportions, fell over the assembled group.

“I think I’ll just go up and check on how they’re getting on…I’ll be right back.” Gabbled Mama as she scooted out through the shoji screen door and hurriedly slid it shut behind her. No one spoke as they listened to the sound of Higurashi-San’s quick footsteps up the stairs. She came back down rather more slowly a few minutes later and quietly re-entered the room. She had her box of flower-bedecked hair combs with her and her face was serene.

Kagome regarded her mother with misgiving and forced herself to speak, “Well?”

“I thought we might use the wisteria blossoms at the back of your hair.”

“Mama…”

The dressers looked with interest into the box, “Forgive me, perhaps that fall of tiny red maple leaves.”

“Oh, yes, you are so right. So much more appropriate to the season.”

“Mama, what happened?”

Her mother smiled, “Now, don’t worry, Kagome-Chan. I think Inuyasha-Kun is probably dressed. His wedding clothes are gone and his suikan-no-hakama are on your bed. They had already left the room when I arrived.”

Kagome considered this news, chewing on her lower lip as she did so, “And the room?”

“You never did like that dressing table above half anyway.””

Kagome looked ready to say something really inappropriate. Her mother gave a quick laugh and slapped her daughter between the shoulder blades in a seemingly innocent blow that nearly drove the breath from her lungs and left a red mark that was to last for days. Kagome, thus neatly rendered unable to speak, settled for looping the now completed layers of sleeves over her shoulders a little more firmly and waited as her heavy ponytail of hair was swirled up and the maple decorated comb set in to hold it. A voice sounded behind her, “Well, shall we get to the makeup?” Oshima-San said.

“Nope no time, look at the clock.” There was a little sound of dismay as the clock showed 11:15.

“And this is to come off before noon? There is no time to be wasted.” Nakamura-San gave quick orders. “The towel, the make-up kit!

Higurashi-san shoved a couple of blue flowered combs into her own hair, somewhat haphazardly, and whipped out a powder box. “Just a little rice powder over the nose and chin, no telling if Inuyasha-kun would like it anyway. He‘s very particular about some things.”

The other two women didn’t disagree and Kagome found herself with her mother’s pristine white wedding hood carefully settling down over her hair and covering her forehead. It felt rather like being tucked into a pillowcase. But she really didn’t mind (having tried it on before in secret) and knew that she looked alright. Rin got up from where she was in the corner and walked over to Kagome to take her wrist. The last thing that Kagome saw of the family’s living room, as she was swept out the door and the hood neatly obscured her peripheral vision, was the small shower of chrysanthemum petals and tiny cherry twigs that Rin had managed to leave all over the tatami mats.

The journey out the front door turned into a slow and stately progression up the damp and rather weedy path to the shrine grounds. Their steps past the caterer’s van were furthered slowed by her dresser’s insistence on imposing their bodies between any possible contact between the smelly side of the van and her robes so that Mama and Rin had to take over managing her layered train.

The gate was also a minor problem but at this point her four helpers had more or less gotten into the swing of things and were fairly easily able to get her through. The day remained cloudy, but the mist was slowly burning off and things were no longer dripping wet. Kagome walked stiff necked in her heavy silken robes surrounded by the white cloud of gauze of the topmost layer and the white shadow of her mother’s wedding hood.

She felt, well, first of all she felt anxious about the clothes, of course, and the effort of holding her arms just so to keep the slippery layers in place was a strain on her shoulders. There was a ringing in her ears and she felt a little faint.

They reached the pavements of the shrine proper and Kagome could hear some soft exclamations from bystanders that were apparently to either side of her but all she could see was the open doorway of the haiden with the new rice straw rope swinging above it. As she shuffled into place in front of the doors a low temple drum took up a slow beat Kagome discovered she was not faint, that ringing in her ears and the floating sensation was unquestionably the preparation that the body made right before it had a heart attack.

“Are you alright Kagome-Sama?” came the soft tones of Rin’s voice from somewhere to the right of her.

The sunlight was getting brighter and the whiteness of the hood distracted Kagome’s gaze as she wet her lips and tried to answer. “Just fine Rin-Chan! Isn’t it nice how the sun’s coming out!” Her voice sounded breathy and unnatural to her own ears.

Mama laughed softly unseen over to her left. “That’s my girl. Now come, just a few steps.”

The darkness of the porch took away the light that was shining through her hood, and Kagome was greeted by the familiar chill and smells of incense and old wood that had filled the main body of her family’s shrine for time out of mind. It suddenly gave her strength of purpose and it was with a firm tread with which she made it up the steps and into the shrine. With a faint murmur the women dropped down the hems of her robes about her in a smooth sweep, and backed away. The dressers to wait on the porch, Mama and Rin to follow inside.

Another presence was now at her side and she was handed Kagura’s closed fan, with it’s dangling tassels, to be held extended before her in her hands like an offering. The beat of the drum changed slightly and she began to walk forward. That other paced beside her in a slow strolling pace that was so familiar. Oh how she wanted to look, and she kept trying to turn her eyes in little glances that would finally defeat the edge of that hood if only will could have its way. She couldn’t resist a faint sigh of frustration and was suddenly immeasurably heartened by the familiar under breath sound of a “Keh” coming from Inuyasha.

Nope, there went her heart again! Now it was really banging in her ears for she had come to the end of the aisle and in front of the alter stood her grandfather. In a flash she had assistance to either side catching her elbows as she subsided to her knees on the zabutan pillow provided.

Jijii-Chan looked both benevolent and as if he was going to go to sleep at any given instant as he gave a shake to his tamagushi wand to rattle its paper strips and commenced the first prayer. Kagome gripped the fan in her fingers and eased its first rib in and out, obscurely comforted and grounded by the familiar drone of her grandfather’s voice. She wasn’t with strangers, only her immediate family and closest associates were here, and it was Inuyasha after all who was by her side.

She heard an impatient sigh from the hanyou as Jijii-Chan droned on, caught up in some exposition of his own about what a beautiful thing love was when accompanied by prudence. Kagome rather hoped that Inuyasha wasn’t really listening as is was rather uncomplimentary. Just one of the risks of being related to your officiating priest, she supposed.

Before she knew it though, the bowls of saké were being poured and she had to rise and proceed on her three times circuit of the alter with measured steps. They moved in opposite directions about the alter and Kagome suddenly found she had to concentrate awfully hard to keep the bits of the Itsuitsu-ginu up around her shoulders. It was only at the last instant that she was able to glance up and catch a glimpse of Inuyasha’s face as he passed by her. His eyes were intense but his expression was unreadable.

He didn’t look at her again when they met on the other two circuits, but his expression went from unreadable to troubled and by the third circuit he appeared to be counting under his breath. At the end of the third circuit Kagome was assisted to kneel again, this time facing Inuyasha with a small table placed between them and two full old style saké cups on it.

Kagome bit her lip and wondered if Inuyasha had been properly coached. She looked up at him and saw that he sat before her as a hanyou and had not concealed his ears. He caught her eyes and she was a little taken aback to see that there was the faintest suspicion of a smirk lingering in a curl of his upper lip. She couldn’t prevent her brows from quirking and glanced down at the saké cups. She put her hands before her preparatory to lifting hers and glanced into his face again. Yes there was distinct predatory look to his gaze, and one ear was twitched back as if he thought this was all a game.

Kagome thought ‘Oh, okay, if that’s the way it’s going to be…’ She lifted her cup without further reference to him and drank down the saké. As she lowered the cup, she saw that Inuyasha was mimicking her gestures perfectly. The cups were placed on the table at the same instant. Because of the hood, Kagome couldn’t see, but it was Jukuryo’s clawed hand that filled the cup in front of her, rather higher this time.

Kagome settled herself a little bit more comfortably, digging her rump in between her feet as she reached forward to take up her cup again. She looked at Inuyasha and saw that he was watching her hands. She waited until he glanced up at her impatiently, golden eyes flickering behind unruly bangs, waiting for the game to start again. They held each others eyes this time as they raised the cups and drank off the saké simultaneously in two long gulps. There was a distinct *click* this time as the base of the cups hit the table top at the same instant.

Sesshoumaru’s hand interposed itself between them filling the cups to their brims, and then almost over, the quiescent liquid pooling in the cups and threatening to spill at the slightest nudge. ‘What is Sesshoumaru trying to do?!’ Kagome thought a little wildly. ‘Give the marriage bad luck?!’ She couldn’t glare at him so she settled for looking straight across the table into Inuyasha’s eyes again. He was looking a little flushed, as no doubt she was, and it was with a reckless abandon that she practically snatched up the cup and worked her way steadily through it in three long gulps, to swiftly lower it, staring into Inuyasha’s eyes all the while as both the cups smacked the table with a crack that shot through the shadowy spaces of the haiden and the honden beyond with a loud, combined report.

Inuyasha broke into a grin and Kagome glanced down in dismay to find that the two cups had broken down their centers and now lay in pieces on the white cloth of the table cover. The applause of the watchers sounded loudly in her ears as she was assisted to rise by Sesshoumaru of all people.

“I don’t think there’s much point to a luck ceremony unless it’s done thoroughly.” He remarked as he led her forward to where his brother stood. They bowed properly as applause rose again but then Inuyasha simply reached over and grabbed her hand to pull her forward down the aisle, past the surprised faces of her mother and Souta where he stood by the drum.

Kagome had to scurry to keep up, “Inuyasha, your ears! The dressers, all the people in the forecourt!”

Inuyasha snorted and stopped for a moment, “Hello, Spying Frog.”

Kagome twisted her head, around, trying to see who it was Inuyasha was speaking to but only succeeded in dislodging the hood so that it obscured her vision entirely. She was abruptly able to see again as Inuyasha plucked the hood from her head.

“I’m a Toad Youkai, if it’s all the same to you.” Came an aggrieved voice. Jaken stood before them in human seeming again holding a camcorder.

“It is all the same to me.” Was Inuyasha’s indifferent reply as he returned his attention to Kagome, “No offence Kagome, but why were you wearing that stupid bag over your head? You could hardly have been seeing anything.”

“That’s a wedding headdress, and it’s my mother’s. Give me that!” Kagome made a snatch at it but Inuyasha tweaked it away at the last instant and stood dangling it from his fingers and studying it as if it were a strange fish he had caught, “You look better without it, Kagome.”

The family was approaching and Kagome looked around to catch sight of Jaken, camera in hand, recording their whole exchange. She started toward him, “Oi.” in a moment they were engaged in a heated exchange that Inuyasha watched silently.

“Inuyasha-Kun, why are you molesting my wedding headdress?” Mama sounded more amused than upset as she took it from his lax fingers. “It’s an old style, and very pretty. No need for you to hold it so.”

“Why wear it? Kagome couldn’t see half of what she was doing.”

“It is to conceal Kagome’s horns of jealousy on the day of her wedding, Inuyasha. Every girl wears one. It’s traditional.”

Inuyasha stiffened and stared at Higurashi-San as if he’d been struck, “Kagome has no reasons to be jealous of me.” He said and strode over to where Kagome was now in a deep discussion with Sesshoumaru, Jaken and Rin.

She turned to him with a brilliant smile as he approached and held up the camera, “Look, Inuyasha, it’s a gift. Jaken-San taped our whole wedding ceremony and we’ll be able to show it to our friends. He says he taped our approach to the shrine and everything. See?” She fiddled with the buttons and a moment later a screen shot up showing them staring at each other like opponents in a duel as they raised their saké cups and began to drink.

Inuyasha leaned closer and gave a slight flick of one clawed finger at one of the silvery buttons and the scene changed to one of Inuyasha being dragged by the hair in a side door of the haiden by a stony-faced Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha lifted his head sharply and sent an unfriendly glare in Jaken’s direction, “Oi! Is all of this stuck on here forever?”

Kagome took her chance to study the movements on the tiny screen as the images of Jukuryo and Jijii-Chan intervened and chuckled, “Oh, Inuyasha, that’s just so sweet! I must show Mama.”

Inuyasha made a garbled sound of protest as Kagome fluttered in a cloud of draperies over to her mother’s side with Rin in tow. He moved after her to lodge his protest only to be brought up short by a dry chuckle from Sesshoumaru. “What the hell are you laughing at?”

His brother quirked an ironic eyebrow at Inuyasha, “Who said This Sesshoumaru never laughed?”

They were interrupted by Jijii-Chan’s impatient banging of his tamagushi wand against the rounded belly of a convenient kaiga statue, “Would the wedding party kindly assemble itself? We have guests and hot food waiting outside!”

--***--

By the time they had assembled and exited to the porch, the noon sun was high and the early morning mist had burned off completely. Proving yet again that Culture Day was always destined to be a fine day as it has been for the past one-hundred years.

The family, Kagome’s relatives and the shrine family’s really interested had all gathered at the tables set up in the music hall. The caterers were trotting around quite busily with place settings. Some young workers were laboring in the back of the room frying up small servings, and ladling out little teapots full of a donabe mushi, served in little green-gray earthen ware teapots. Each topped by it’s own little serving cup. There were many appreciative “oohs” and “ahs” about the room as the trays of these were delivered.

So, it was a satisfied Higurashi-san who sat back for a moment in her chair to chat with Jukuryo who was seated next to her, “Well it all seems very successful.”

“It certainly is very well presented. You are to be complimented in your handling of this wedding, Higurashi-san.”

Mama smiled brightly and slid her eyes over in his direction. “I could not have done it without your help. Jukuryo-sama.” Jukuryo rumbled pleasedly and poured Higurashi-san some more heated saké.

“It’s a pity though,” remarked Mama, after taking a thoughtful sip of the warm saké. The satisfied chatter of her family and the blushing looks of the newly married couple caught her ear and eye, but it was really like they were in their own little world, having their own private conversation. It seemed as though nothing could be listening. “It’s really a pity that there are no other relatives, let alone youkai, in this time to stand as Inuyasha’s family.”

Jukuryo silently rolled his eyes and paid attention to tweaking bits of mushrooms out of his teapot-shaped soup server. ‘I guess, no matter how obvious I am, I’m just never going to convince them.’ He thought. Aloud he said “There are many youkai here in the modern day. They are just very difficult for humans to detect. We have, after all, learned some excellent camouflage.”

Higurashi-san lost much of what he said while occupied with having bitten into an overly hot fried puff having to hang her mouth open and breathe in and out quickly while reaching for the ice water. When she had recovered herself, she said, “Are there youkai here in modern times? I never would have known. Why, they can come to this wedding and celebrate with us for all of me. We have plenty.”

Jukuryo had a frozen instant in which he dropped his chopsticks and could see them flying through the air spattering droplets of soup to shout “No!” but it was no use, the words had been said.

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You know by now what I generally say; I really do always want to hear from you guys.