InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ It Must Be Destiny ❯ Chapter 31

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 31

Amber paced back and forth in her room, the full skirts of her wedding gown swishing softly with the movement. Her hair was piled up on top of her head in a graceful style, with wisps of strands escaping, granting her an elegant yet disheveled look. A few white flowers had been stuck into the coiffure to add a little style.

Kagome watched her soon-to-be daughter-in-law try to calm her nerves by walking around the bedroom. (“Relax, honey. In a few minutes, you'll be out there next to the man you love, pledging your love to him for all time.”)

The poor girl gave an extremely worried glance at the miko. (“I'm scared, Kagome-san. What if my parents come for me before I can marry Inusouta?”) Her face grew haunted, frightened to the core. (“They'll take me away… put me back…”)

The older woman wrapped her arms around Amber's bare shoulders in a comforting embrace. (“Oh, sweetie,”) she murmured sympathetically. (“Don't you worry any more. Soon you'll be married to Inusouta and they won't be able to do anything about it.”)

Izayoi poked her head inside the room. (“We're ready, Okaasan.”)

(“Okay.”) Kagome turned to the bride. (“Are you ready, Amber-chan?”)

The young girl took a deep, calming breath. “Let's hope so,” she muttered in English.

.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.

Inusouta glanced around the shrine courtyard, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Inuyasha poked his son's arm with a claw. (“You don't think those bastards will really come for her, do you?”)

The younger hanyou, looking extremely sharp in a black tuxedo, gave his father a direct glare. (“I wouldn't put it past them, Otousan. You didn't see how her otousan reacted to her disappearance.”)

Inuyasha had opted to wear a more traditional father-of-the-groom Japanese robe in varying shades of grey and black with red details. Kagome matched him perfectly in a blood-red floral kimono and grey obi.

Izayoi and Suki were Amber's bridesmaids and they were dressed beautifully in lavender floral and yellow embroidered kimonos, respectively. They had already appeared and were standing near the priest they had asked to perform the traditional Christian ceremony for the young couple. Kohaku sat in a chair nearby, dressed in a lovely turquoise kimono for the occasion. Everyone waited somewhat patiently under Goshinboku- the same place Inuyasha and Kagome had exchanged their own vows seventeen years ago.

Inusouta's attention was caught as his bride- escorted by Shippou, who was dressed quite handsomely in a dark green suit- appeared from around the house. She was still very thin, yet she glowed with an inner radiance that threatened to blot out the sun. Her dress accented her slender waist and billowed out around her legs, making it seem like she was dressed in soft clouds.

She had never been lovelier- except on their mating night.

The hanyou grinned in spite of his worries. Soon, she'd be all his, and her parents would have no control over her future at all.

Their eyes met as Shippou led them to a halt in front of the priest. (“Who gives this woman to this man?”) he intoned regally, reading from an old bible.

Kohaku and Shippou stepped forward. (“We do,”) they replied together.

Amber and Inusouta shared a grin of excitement as they held each other's hands.

“Wait!”

Everyone's attention turned to the new voice that cried out in English. Confusion reigned on every face. “Who are you?” Inusouta called out.

The boy- he couldn't have been more than fourteen years at the most- walked slowly forward, his emerald green eyes focused on Amber. His head was almost completely bald- only the barest auburn fuzz covered the scalp. He looked rather like a shaved young Shippou.

Kohaku blinked as she nudged her mate. (“Another of your unclaimed kits, darling?”) she murmured. The kitsune shook his head.

“My name is Tristan Ryoushi,” he replied as he approached, his eyes never leaving his sister.

"You're Amber's younger brother." Inusouta smothered a growl as he stepped between the young boy and his bride. “You're not taking her back to that asylum!” he snarled.

The non-English-speaking members of the group were relayed the translation courtesy of Suki. Inuyasha cracked his knuckles. (“He ain't stopping this wedding,”) he growled softly as Kagome placed her hands on his shoulders.

Tristan looked somewhat surprised. “I'm not here to take her back. I'm here to warn her. My parents are determined to see she's locked away for life. It was through the help of the doctors at the hospital that I was able to get a flight over here before them.”

Everyone looked at the boy in extreme surprise. “You're… warning us?” Kagome asked gently.

He nodded. “I owe her my life- and I care about her. Our parents were wrong to do what they did, regardless of their reasons for it. She's my sister- the only one I've got- and I want her happy. I want her away from the insanity that our parents have got.”

Inuyasha snorted after Suki translated. (“They're the insane ones and they put Amber into the nut-house.”)

Amber stepped forward to gaze at her brother, somewhat shocked that the slender boy was already taller than she was. Sapphire eyes locked with emerald.

“You're like me, aren't you?” she asked softly.

He didn't reply. Amber stepped closer. “It's okay,” she said, reaching out a hand to him. “These people- they're the same. They'll understand. Those people who gave us life- they don't understand. They are not our parents. They are not anything to us.” She gestured to the group behind her. “This is my family now. They understand who I am- what I am. And I guess that you are the same.”

She closed her eyes and fanned the lavender flame in her soul into life, sparking her own transformation, which earned her another gasp from the onlookers. Her tail was hidden under her long, fluffy skirt, but the ears and claws were quite obvious.

Tristan's eyes lowered in shame. “They… called you a freak. I- I understood what you had done as a child, even if they didn't realize that it was wrong. That's why... I didn't dare show them… plus, I was so weak from the leukemia. But after you came… and you saved me…” He shrugged. "I'm strong enough to change now."

Suddenly, he sprouted a long, auburn tail and black-tipped reddish ears, which looked rather strange against the almost-baldness of his head. His human ears were gone. He held up his hands in a supplication gesture. The fingers were tipped with claws.

Amber smiled in understanding as everyone else collectively gasped in surprise. The priest crossed himself, earning him a rather irritated glare from Kagome.

“We are truly family, oniisan,” Amber said as she held out her clawed hand to the brother she thought she hated. He took the proffered gesture and glanced at the others, nervous that they would shun him as his parents had shunned their only daughter.

Shippou, grinning like an extremely proud papa even though he didn't understand their conversation, dropped his illusion, revealing his normal kitsune form. Inusouta shifted to his hanyou form as well as Tristan's gaze moved over to him. Inuyasha snorted as Kagome nudged him, urging him to pull off the black bandana that had been covering his ears. Izayoi and Suki, both under the training of Inusouta, closed their eyes tight in concentration, finally shifting to their hanyou forms after a moment of intense focus.

Tristan blinked in absolute surprise. He looked back and forth between the two women who hadn't changed. Kagome chuckled. “Sorry, Tristan. The two of us are simple humans. Nothing special.”

The boy shook his head slightly. “No. You are extraordinarily special. You accepted my sister when she had no one. You took her in and loved her as your own. In my book, you are better than family.”

Suki whistled in appreciation. (“He's pretty deep for such a young guy.”)

Inusouta cleared his throat. “I think, perhaps, we should hurry along with the wedding?”

Tristan nodded, allowing his transformation to revert. “The faster, the better.” He took the bandanna Inuyasha offered him and wrapped it around his head, hiding some of his baldness.

Turning back to the priest, Inusouta indicated that he should continue. The poor priest, gazing at the hanyous and youkai in front of him, decided to ignore the appearance of the strange assembly and continued with a shortened ceremony with unshakable aplomb.

(“You may kiss your bride, young man,”) the priest finished, smiling broadly at the young couple.

Inusouta twitched his ears as he gazed at his new wife. Amber's own ears swiveled backwards, embarrassed at the gleam in his golden eyes. He scooped her into his arms and kissed her quite thoroughly before she could move another muscle.

Everyone broke into applause- including Tristan. Inusouta finally released his new bride, who turned to her brother.

“Tristan? Where will you go now? Our parents will still be able to hold sway over your life, and if they discover that you're a kitsune hanyou like me…”

Tristan raised an eyebrow. “Kitsune? Hanyou? Is that what I am?”

Inusouta gave him a half grin. “A rough translation would be `half fox demon.'”

The boy mulled that over for a moment. “I'm… not sure. After seeing their horrible behavior toward you my entire life, just because I was sick… I have no wish to see them ever again. Yet, you're right. They hold the keys to my freedom for four more years.”

Amber glanced at her ancestors, who were watching them quietly, listening to Suki's translations. (“Shippou-sama? Kohaku-sama?”)

The couple stepped closer to the siblings. (“What is it, kit?”) Shippou asked.

(“Can… can you take Tristan through the well with you… and let him stay with you in the past until he's eighteen and no longer under those people's guardianship?”)

The couple exchanged a long glance. Kohaku turned back to Amber with a bright smile of welcome. (“Of course, sweetie. Shippou can train both of you in the kitsune arts that way.”)

Amber bowed low. (“Arigatou, Kohaku-sama, Shippou-sama. You don't know how much that relieves me.”)

Tristan looked somewhat baffled. “What's going on?”

Inusouta grinned at the young man. “You're heading to the past, my new oniisan,” he replied with a gentle thwack on the back. “And you'll be getting both kitsune training and language education.”

“Language? Past?”

Amber laughed as she gave her brother a hug. Each was somewhat dismayed to see that each was as thin as the other. “Don't worry. You'll see soon enough. And I'll be with you, every step of the way this time.”

.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.

Belle and Chris Ryoushi stormed up the house located at the top of the shrine steps. The angry man knocked harshly on the door, catching the attention of a lovely black-haired young girl with a voluptuous figure.

The girl opened the door slightly to speak with the irate couple. She blinked in confusion. (“Can I help you?”) she asked politely.

“Where the hell is our daughter?” Chris roared at the girl. The young beauty's gold eyes narrowed as she turned her head slightly.

(“Suki! I think those people are here!”) she called out to her younger sister.

Soon they were joined by another girl- this one younger than the first- with the oddest silver hair the American ningens had ever seen. “You're here looking for Oneesan, yes?” the younger girl asked, her voice dripping with ice.

Chris glared at the girl. “Her name is Amber, and we're still legally her parents! She can't just run off to wherever she damn well pleases without our permission!”

Two sets of eyes, one gold and the other brown, gazed at the couple in absolute loathing. The younger one smirked. “You're too late,” she taunted. “She's already married. She is no longer under your jurisdiction. So piss off and go home before we sic the dogs on you.”

Belle spluttered in outrage as Chris started to turn red in fury. “Married?” he roared in disbelief. “We didn't give her permission to get married!”

Suki glared. “You didn't have to. She already had permission from her family. Which. Is. Not. You.”

Belle sighed. “Come on, Chris. If she's in Japan, she's far away from us, and now she's her new husband's problem- along with his family. Let's just go home and take care of Tristan.”

Suki didn't mention that Tristan had appeared at his sister's wedding, nor that he had traveled through the well to escape their insane grasp. How he had managed to travel all the way here without them knowing it was a mystery- one she really didn't want to solve. Just as long as they got out of their lives for good.

“Do that. Leave us alone. Next time we see you, we'll set the dogs on you.”

Chris scoffed as his wife tried to pull him away. “What dogs? I've never seen any dogs around here.”

Suki growled and shifted to hanyou, making the couple blink in shock. Izayoi, unable to understand the conversation but seeing her sister transform, followed suit, shifting to her silver-haired hanyou form.

“We're the dogs, you pathetic excuse for a human,” Suki growled, deep in her throat. “We're inu-hanyou- half dog demons in your weakling language. And we won't hesitate to rip your throats out the next time you come here looking for our Oneesan.”

Belle and Chris turned and fled, unwilling to risk their meaningless lives any longer in the pursuit of their bizarre daughter. Izayoi and Suki watched them in satisfaction as they disappeared down the shrine steps.

(“Enough of dealing with the garbage,”) Izayoi stated dryly. (“Let's go join everyone at Kaede's village.”)

(“Right behind you.”)