InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Letters on a Train ❯ Letters on a Train ( Chapter 1 )

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

 

Setting: At a time in London/Europe when there were still repressive gender roles and trains had been invented. In this fic, they are doing a long site-seeing tour all around Europe, but the only real place they stop is a small rural French village. I'm sure this is a horrible misuse of history, but please do not expect it to be accurate because it isn't really supposed to be.

 

A/N: For those of you reading “Better Things than You” this is a prototype one shot I found on my computer. I must have started writing it, forgotten about it, then began working on “Better Things”

 

For my “Marriage of Connivance for Whom?” readers, yes, I am still working it, but very very slowly. I have two or three pages written so far, but its going to be a little longer before I can really get into it. I can tell I need a break because its getting harder for me to give the story the kick it needs. Still, I'm hoping to update it within the next week or two. I guess I really don't know the meaning of a break.

 

Warning: This story contains kind of attempted rape, violence, and bull shitted fluffiness. Think Jane Austen-ish-ness with a sprinkling of Grindhouse.

 

Letters on a Train

 

Inuyasha had been working on the letter since the beginning of their journey. He had written so many drafts that Kagome had long lost count. He said it had to be perfect.

 

Inuyasha was writing a letter to Kikyou's father to ask for her hand in marriage.

 

Kagome squirmed in her train seat. She didn't like watching him when he worked on the letter. He focused on it so hard, his brow scrunched together. At times, he looked so hopeful when he reread his words, then he would see something that wasn't completely correct and would pull out another clean sheet to begin again.

 

She felt like someone had struck her every time.

 

Here she was, traveling across Europe with him and her Grandmother Kaede and his Uncle Myouga. She had thought that some time together would make him notice her as someone other that his best friend, but it hadn't.

 

Probably because he hadn't done anything but write that letter. Maybe get out of the train long enough to look at some scenery, but for the most part he slept or wrote.

 

Finally, a week before the train trek was half over, Kagome had had enough. Sooner or later he was going to finish that letter and mail it. It would mean that by the time they returned to London Kikyou's family would have accepted his proposal and the two would be betrothed. They probably would already be planning the wedding…

 

When the train stopped for the day at a small French village so the passengers could get off and tour the ancient abbey and see the town, Kagome walked purposely to Inuyasha's cabin he was sharing with his uncle. Her right leg was stiff and slow; she had been born with the disability. She always had to carry a cane with her to keep her balance. It was because of her leg that she often tired easily, but even with the handicap Kagome barely acted within the confines of lady-like behavior of the strict Victorian codes of conduct.

 

Perhaps that is why Inuyasha could never want me. I'm crippled and I don't behave as I should.

 

Still, she remained resolute. Inuyasha was her friend and she wanted to spend time with him.

 

Inuyasha had said that he was going to stay on the train, but that was too much for Kagome. He was missing all of Europe and ignoring her. If he was going to jump into someone else's arms the moment they returned, she wanted them to be together while they could be.

 

Taking pause outside the cabin door to smooth the skirt of her full-length dress, Kagome knocked. She didn't have much time, it wasn't proper for an unaccompanied, unmarried girl to be going into a man's cabin, but she wasn't going to let social rules get in the way of her time with Inuyasha.

 

Her hand came up and she knocked twice. At first there was no sound, then a thud followed by a grumble. A moment later, the door was thrown open and a very cranky hanyou appeared.

 

“What the he—oh Kagome.” Inuyasha's face immediately softened on seeing her. “What are you doing here? I thought you went into town.”

 

“I am going, but I wanted you to come with us this time.” Kagome stilled herself for his rejection. “You've hardly left the train since the trip began…and I hoped…” She couldn't help but toy with the fringe of her corset. Looking up, she gave it a last ditch effort. “Please come with me?”

 

Inuyasha stared down at his friend. She had to ask him personally to get him off the train? Sure, Myouga had been on his back for sometime to come and enjoy the journey and he had brushed him away, but for Kagome to show up at the door of his cabin…He couldn't help but feel a wave of guilt. She looked so sad.

 

Inuyasha truly regretted the letter he was writing. He didn't want to marry Kikyou, but his father…. If only it wasn't so damn unfair to everyone! Inuyasha didn't give a flying fuck about Europe, but he had leaped at the chance to spend time with Kagome. Just being around the girl was enough for him. Or at least he used to think it was. In recent years he had begun to want more, but with his father's declarations, how could ask anything more from Kagome other than friendship? Assuming she even wanted to be anything more than his friend.

 

“Let me get my jacket and we can go.” He said simply, showing the girl in front of him none of his inner turmoil. Turning, he pulled the sought item from the rack and tossed it over his arm. “Ready?”

 

Kagome nodded. She tried to hide her smile as she refused to get her hopes up. Going site seeing was what they were supposed to be doing—it didn't mean anything that he had agreed to go with her. Did it?

 

They walked off the train with the rest of the stragglers, and slowly made their way down to the waiting mountain village. It took them more time thanks to Kagome's limp, but in this one thing, Inuyasha had patience. He slowed his own steps so that they matched her struggling ones and the two enjoyed the walk down the hill side.

 

Inuyasha looked at Kagome out of the corner of his eye. He needed to talk to someone, why not her? Shaking his head, he pushed the thought from his head. What good would it do? She was a woman, how could she understand?

 

Because she is Kagome, and Kagome isn't your average woman. His mind chided him. She had the comprehension of a man and beyond.

 

Unconsciously, Inuyasha tucked her arm in his while they walked. He didn't seem to notice what he had done, but Kagome was more than aware. Her face blushed a bright red, but she made no move to pull away. Inuyasha did things like that—tried to pull her closer. It was times like these that she could almost pretend he was writing letters to her father and not Kikyou's.

 

Several of the older, married couples they were walking with exchanged looks. Ah, the young days of marriage.

 

Kagome and Inuyasha reached the bottom of the hill on which the train was perched, and then made their way to the chapel. Most of the other tourist seemed of have gone else where, for when they reached it there were only parishioners mulling about.

 

Kagome took a seat on a bench, just on the edge of the church yard. Her leg was in need of a short rest before she went any further. Gathering her skirts, she patted the spare space for Inuyasha.

 

“So, you're thinking of making a proposal to Lady Kikyou?” Kagome began cautiously. If she wanted to spend any time with Inuyasha, she was going to have to get this out in the open.

 

Inuyasha for his part was stunned. How could she just bring something like that up in conversation? He was right, Kagome was not like other women. “Yes, I think the time has come.”

 

Kagome nodded calmly. Her outward expression betrayed none of the knotting turmoil her intestines were going through. “Why the sudden desire to find a wife? It doesn't suit you, you know?” Unless you've fallen in love. She forced a playful smile even though the thought twisted a knife in her gut.

 

Inuyasha went white for a moment, then broke into a smile. “You have always been so direct, Kagome. That is what draws us as friends.”

 

Friends. Nothing more. Kagome's mind chided her.

 

Inuyasha continued, now strong in his resolve to seek Kagome's guidance. “My father, since the birth of Rin, has decided he likes having grandchildren. He's threatening to write me out of my inheritance if I do not at least wed within the next twelvemonth.” Inuyasha hung his head.

 

It was Kagome's turn to be stunned. Does this mean that he doesn't love Kikyou? But why else would he choose her if he loved her not? “That seems very severe.”

 

“Severe would be my father, don't you agree? Kagome, what should I do?”

 

Kagome blushed. He was asking for her help? “What do you mean?”

 

“Its so unfair to ask this of any woman. I feel as if I am being so deceitful.” He paused. “You know how most women are, they take a proposal of marriage to be a sign of love. Some will reject proposals they feel don't have a certain level of affection. I've been trying to think of a way to write Kikyou's father that will allow her to accept me, but so that she'll understand the situation. I fear, like most of the marriageable girls in the city, she'll expect my devotion. I don't know if I can give it.” With that, he looked pointedly at Kagome. His eyes held such a sad expression— and something more Kagome couldn't quite pin down.

 

“Why Kikyou?” Was all she could choke out under his gaze.

 

“Why not Kikyou?” He shrugged. “She's good as any. I guess she seems eager enough to marry anyone that she might turn a blind eye to the situation.” He was staring straight ahead so that she couldn't see the bleak expression his face had taken on. “Not to mention that she always shows me such attention.”

 

“Is not the purpose of marriage to produce heirs?”

 

Inuyasha thought for a moment. “Yes, but wouldn't you prefer `producing heirs' to be under the guise of love? My father's demands strip that away. I guess I could lie, but that would only make things worse if she found out.”

 

“I understand Inuyasha.” Kagome reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. She forced another smile, this time in an effort not to cry. He was so willing to run into the arms of a woman who was barely his acquaintance and was ignoring her completely. What was wrong with her that he would choose someone like Kikyou over her? Wasn't she in need of a husband as much as Kikyou? She now already knew about his problem.

 

Inuyasha had frozen with her words. She understood. Kagome understood his dilemma. But did she really understand or was it just lip service to comfort him?

 

“Kagome? Would you marry someone like me?” Inuyasha whispered, leaning a little closer to her. Though he had asked the question on a whim, it unexpectedly began to feel like he was posing the idea of marriage to her for real.

 

Kagome sat on the bench, trying to think of a way to answer him so that she wouldn't betray her own feelings. She couldn't stop herself in the end.

 

“I would marry you.”

 

She chocked on her breath the second the words left her lips. How could she have been so forward, so stupid? He would never want a little cripple like you. Especially when he can have Kikyou.

 

As soon as the thought clicked in her head, Kagome was up and running as best she could, her skirts billowing out behind her. Inuyasha made a grab for her, but missed, landing flat in the churchyard's dirt. By the time he had picked himself up, she was a bobbing dot in the crowd, her long black hair trailing behind her.

 

Inuyasha could only watch her vanish.

 

What the hell had just happened?

 

He had been confiding in Kagome one minute, the next she had said that she would marry him. Kagome, married to him.

 

Why in the hell would she do that? Even after she knew?

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Kagome hobbled into a small dark alley, her bad leg aching her from the exertion. She needed to rest and be away from people.

 

Why did I say that? Just because he isn't in love with Kikyou doesn't mean he thinks of me that way!

 

Hot tears burned firey streams down her face and even though there was no one around to see, she brushed them away quickly.

 

I am such a fool.

 

“My, my. What do we have here?” A deep voice belted from behind her. Kagome whirled back in the direction of the main road to find herself facing a set of burly men. They were blocking her only way out of the dead end alley.

 

“A pretty little poppet away from 'er mother, 'enry,” Henry's companion answered. With his accent and use of crude dialect, Kagome could just understand the man's French from her limited tutelage in the language.

 

Kagome found that without thinking she had begun to back away from the men who were slowly closing in on her. Her heart nearly leapt out of her throat with her hand came into contact with the cold, stone wall that was the alley's back boundary.

 

She was trapped.

 

This is what I get for practically confessing my undying love to Inuyasha: raped and murdered by two common crooks.

 

Gripping her cane tightly in her hand, she realized that she was not completely defenseless.

 

Nor should I be.

 

Growing up with a brother of her own and as the close friend of the Takahashi siblings, Kagome had been in her fair share of un-lady like scuffles. She also knew the social ramifications that the title of “used woman” would bring: a life caring for her aging grandmother as there would be no way to marry her off. No man or hanyou would want her. And that would mean that in spite her unthinking words to Inuyasha, there really would be no choice for her in the matter.

 

But these thoughts were fleeting in her mind. Much more prevalent was the need to protect herself. She rebelled against the idea of being taken against her will. As a woman in elegant Victorian society, she was always being moved around at a man's will, but these men were going much too far.

 

As the one called Henry reached his fat and dirty fingers out to touch her face, Kagome swatted his hand away with the handle of her cane. He laughed at her weak attempt and made another move at her. More forcefully this time Kagome lashed out at him.

 

“Please keep your hands to yourself, sir.” Kagome said in broken French, trying to remain calm in face of her fear. “And move out of the way so that I may pass.”

 

“Not on yer life luv,” Henry spat at her, this time lunging at Kagome. He was not very fast and Kagome managed to just get out of his way.

 

He moved at her again and this time she held up her cane with speed and precision that at the last possible moment it was aligned with his eye. Henry had no time to move out of the way with his lumbering body's momentum and found that he was impaled on the stick's end through his eye socket. Blood gushed from the wound and for a moment Kagome and Henry were locked together by a gruesome bond of gore and wood: he was too stunned to move and Kagome could not pull away as her cane was stuck in the wound.

 

Henry's companion had stood by in shock, but finally he mustered his wits and jerked his friend away from Kagome's make shift weapon.

 

With a shriek at the blood spewing from the wound, Kagome hobbled out to the way. She tried to get passed her attackers who were ascertaining the extent of Henry's eye. However, she did not make if far before the angry men noticed her movement.

 

“Bloody bitch!” Even with the language barrier, Kagome could here his wrath and anger.

 

Turning quickly, she managed to land a solid blow to Henry's accomplice's shoulder when he made a move to her, before struggling again to make it to the street.

 

She was almost there too when two strong arms grabbed her around the waist. Her cane was wrenched out of her hands and she felt something hard like metal cuff her across the face.

 

Kagome squeezed her eyes tight when she was shoved onto the ground.

 

XXXXXXXX

 

It had taken some time, but a final realization had sunk into Inuyasha's head. Kagome had said that she would marry him. If she cared for him anything like he did for her, Inuyasha really did not see why they could not be married. Kagome was not one to say serious things without meaning them.

 

He had always assumed Kagome would laugh at him if he proposed to her, and he could not honestly ask her to marry him without telling him of his father's demands. It would be unfair to the woman he considered to be his best friend and who he loved as so much more.

 

It had been in the last few years that she had become more to him than just a best friend from his childhood. But he had never allowed himself to even think of or hope for her in anything other than those simplified terms. Until now.

 

He had to let her know how he really felt, and hope that she would still answer his question in the same way.

 

What if she had just been saying she would marry him as a nicety to his pride?

 

If that had been the reason, she never would have run away like that. Besides, its just not like Kagome to joke with such matters.

 

Inuyasha knew himself to be dense, but he could recognize Kagome's emotions, and she had clearly been embarrassed before. He himself had feared embarrassment by telling her how he felt, so why should that not be the reason for her feelings as well?

 

He had to know. Something told him that he would like the answer.

 

Standing, he trotted off in the direction in which she had gone.

 

XXXXXXXXXXX

 

It had not been difficult to track down Kagome. She was slow, her cane left a distinct pock mark with every limping step she took, and if that was not enough, her scent was burned into the air like nothing else: a line of her scent it was so potent he could see it.

 

However, the stronger her scent became, the more and more fear was laced in it. When Inuyasha finally reached the alley where Kagome had gone to hide her tears, he felt himself losing control at the sight laying before him.

 

Two men were holding down a fiercely struggling Kagome. Even with her bum leg, she was keeping them busy, wiggling and twisting for all she was worth. Her limbs lashed and moved with all the fury of a cat unexpectedly dumped into a bathtub. Somehow her attackers had secured a gag around her head, but that appeared to be their only success. The two men could not hold her still.

 

One was bleeding profusely from the eye. Good, she put up a fight.

 

Inuyasha had paused only for an instant as he took the situation in. The next moment, he was on both men at once, grabbing them both up and hauling their forms straight back into the wall behind them. He pinned the struggling bodies to the cold brick only to drag both forward before shoving them against the wall a second time. The hanyou let one man fall so that he could let out all his frustration and rage out on the other's face. Punching and slugging for all he was worth, Inuyasha stopped only when the man fainted and slipped down the wall in an unconscious state. Still it was a punch or two until he realized he was hitting cold but bloody brick instead of a human head.

 

He also failed to noticed that the other man had regained his bearings and had staggered to his feet. The thug had drawn a blade he had been too occupied with a squirming Kagome to pull out before and was moving to strike Inuyasha. But ere he could slash his knife into the hanyou's flesh, he fell unconscious again, this time from a hard blow from Kagome's cane to the back of his head. She had managed to pull herself to her feet and stumble over to her cane just in time to stop her attacker from harming Inuyasha. Sweat dripping off her face, she panted as she stared down at the man who was out cold.

 

Giving the long gone man a final kick to the ribs, Inuyasha turned to find Kagome where she stood. She looked frightened but brave, fragile, but she still had the strength he had always admired in her scrawled across her face.

 

Carefully, he approached her, frowning when she flinched as he tried to reach out to her.

 

“Are you alright?” He asked, trying to get her to respond to him since she would not let him touch her.

 

Kagome just stood where she was for a moment. She was trying to grasp everything that had happened in such a short while, and her mind could not process everything.

 

At Inuyasha's words, she started and looked at him, feeling surprised to see him standing where he was. Then without thinking, she launched herself into his arms, grateful to have him there.

 

“I was so scared,” Kagome said over and over again as he held her. “I was so scared, but I fought them. I…fought…them.”

 

Inuyasha allowed her to weep for some time, cradling her small frame against his own. He knew he should have been there to protect her, but he was proud that she had been strong enough to fight for herself. What other woman could have done that?

 

That's her, my strong Kagome.

 

He turned them to move away from the scene of the fight, but her leg was tired from the hard work it had preformed, and in the end Inuyasha had to scoop her up in his arms and carry her away.

 

XXXXXXXXXXX

 

Inuyasha found a small well in a secluded area. Bringing up the bucket, he used the water to clean Kagome's and then his own wounds and the fresh blood spattering that speckled them both. Thankfully, they both had been wearing darker colors and there was little sign of their battle. Inuyasha was pretty sure both men had been injured badly, but there was just not much guilt for him to have. He could not very well report the crime without telling what had happened to Kagome, and even though they were far from the London society, rumors could easily spread to the socialites and risk ruining her reputation. The details would be exaggerated, Kagome's role would be stained, and he would not allow that to happen.

 

Especially not now.

 

Pulling Kagome close when they were both clean, Inuyasha rocked her gently from side to side as they sat propped up against the well's side.

 

Kagome stared out in space, wondering what Inuyasha was thinking. That she was debased by the men who had tried to touch her, that she was un-lady like for putting a man's eye out, that she was trouble for getting herself into so much trouble that he had to be drug into save her? Tears welled in her eyes.

 

That's all I am. Trouble.

 

She turned her head into Inuyasha's chest and sobbed. She cried for what had been done for her and what it meant for Inuyasha to know.

 

He will never want me now.

 

Like there ever was that chance before, silly girl.

 

Inuyasha had had enough of their silence. There were things to discuss and his patience was waning.

 

“Kagome? Are you alright?” He asked, trying to kill the quiet.

 

Kagome remained perfectly still for a moment before nodding.

 

“They—they didn't—”

 

“I'm fine Inuyasha. You got there just in time to save me.” Her thin arms wrapped around his waist, firmly squeezing him in a show of friendly thanks.

 

“I was so worried when I smelled your fear, Kagome.” He returned her embrace, ignoring the villagers who were giving them strange looks as they took their water. “I'm glad you are alright. I don't know what I would have done if….” He broke off before he could finished his sentence, images of a broken and very dead Kagome splayed out though his mind. He would not have been able to bear her death.

 

Kagome however, did not know his thoughts. She believed he was speaking of if the men had succeeded in forcing themselves on her. “You would have done what you would have had to do: you would have let me go.”

 

Inuyasha jerked her away from her, gripping her shoulders to hold her at arm's length. “Kagome if you had died I doubt I could have just walked away. More like torn every building in this town down just to get revenge.”

 

Kagome smiled at their miscommunication; they always seemed to be in the right book but on the wrong page. Taking Inuyasha's hands off her shoulders so she could hold them in her own, she looked him in the eye. “I know you would have, if I had been killed. But what if they had just…used me? Could you really have just pretended nothing had happened? Even now? Can you just act as though I'm the same as before?”

 

Inuyasha was silent, shocked by her words and the fact that she thought he was just going to leave her. Kagome continued when he did not join the conversation.

 

“I don't want anyone to know—I don't want my family's name to be harmed because I wondered off on my own and got into trouble.” Kagome hung her head, but kept her tiny hands firmly locked over Inuyasha's. “But when we get back to London, I'll go stay with my grandmother. I tried to protect myself, but I could not stop those men from laying their hands on me.” A loud sniffle punctuated her sentence.

 

After she was finished, Inuyasha still could not believe the words he had heard. He found himself only able to draw her closer to him, tightening his grip on the girl in his arms. The hanyou opened his mouth to contradict what she had said, but his mind was not fast enough to say anything immediately. Kagome began to squirm in his grasp, trying to get away, but between the fact that his arms were holding her in place and that she was weakened from the earlier struggle, she did not get very far.

 

Nonetheless, she continued her weak attempt of removing herself, but Inuyasha growled into her ear. Better than any inu bitch, she understood is meaning and stilled where she was.

 

Inuyasha was finally coming to a realization: if he wanted Kagome it was now or never. He could see their future spread out before him, and the picture he saw was not a pleasant one. If he let her get up from where he had her, she would go to her grandmother, and like the honest little bird she was, she would tell the old woman everything that had happen. Kaede would make a polite excuse to leave, and Kagome would be whisked back to London where she would live with Grandmother Kaede, hidden from all eyes that might possibly know her secret. Eyes that would speak the supposed “truth” about Kagome attracting unsavory types if the girl ever showed her face again in good society.

 

He could not allow it.

 

“No one has to know, Kagome.”

 

Kagome turned away from him at his words. They were now sitting so that Inuyasha's legs were crossed, and Kagome was in his lap, her own legs sticking out in front of her. She leaned back into his chest, crossing her arms in front of her. He obviously wasn't going to let her go anywhere.

 

She shook her head. “I would know. You already know.” Kagome covered her face in her hands, further slouching in Inuyasha's hold.

 

Inuyasha sucked in a deep breath, counseling his patience. Now was a time when he had to say the right thing. “All you need to know is that you are strong. There are many girls who would have laid down at the first threat of danger, but you fought them, Kagome. Not only did you resist, but you injured one of them, and you saved me from the other. And I know that I am proud of you too—we make a good pair working together.” He smiled to himself for finally saying something that was right. Kagome was no longer arguing with him: he knew she thought he was right when she had nothing to counter his words with.

 

Silence lay between them for some time as Inuyasha tried to come up with more right words. He wanted to say the things he needed to and those that Kagome needed to hear. Finally his big mouth was not failing him.

 

Or so he thought.

 

“Kagome, I would marry you. You don't have to go live with your grandmother.” He expected her to be happy, but her tone told a different story.

 

“Inuyasha, you are such a good friend.” Her head dropped down toward her chest. “And even though I might marry you to help you appease your father, I can not let you marry some one tainted like me. Even if I am…strong… I care about you too much.” There was the distinct scent of tears.

 

Growling, Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her back against him. The only thing that kept him going was the fact she had said she cared for him. “First off, my father and his rules be damned. Second,” he reached up and turned her fact to him so he could look her in the eye. “I don't care what those men did to you. You are my best and truest friend Kagome, and I love you so much I would do anything to protect you.” He could not stop himself from move to nuzzle her hair, still not fully aware of what exactly he said, the words have fallen from his lips so fluidly.

 

Kagome was blushing. Her heart was beating in her chest and on looking down, she found her hands were shaking.

 

Inuyasha noticed the change: the could feel the tremors running up and arms and her pounding heart beat. “Kagome?”

 

“Inuyasha,” it was Kagome's turn to not to know what to say. Scrunching her brow, she looked back down at her hands, still trembling. She flexed her fingers even as the digits continued to shake. “You want marry me because you love me?”

 

Falling from the sky like a ton of brick, the hanyou realized his confession. I told Kagome I loved her. “Y-yes?”

 

“Then yes.” Her body was turned away from him once more, and Inuyasha could not see her face. He had a feeling what her “yes” meant, but he wanted to be sure. He wanted to know her feelings.

 

“Yes? Yes what?” Inuyasha asked, prodding her ribs.

 

Kagome found herself blushing again. “Yes, I'll,” she swallowed hard. “Yes, I'll um…marry you. If that's what you want.”

 

The self-doubt was back in her voice. He could change that. Leaning forward, he whispered into her ear, “You have know idea how much I want that. You have no idea how long I've wanted to ask you.”

 

“But the letter to Kikyou's father?” Finally she turned as fully as she could in his hold to look at him. She had to know the truth.

 

“I never thought you would want me, and I couldn't ask you under my father's conditions. You have no idea what a relief it is you want me.” Something occurred to he half demon. “You do want me?” He gulped.

 

There was a tightening of guilt. What if she was just—

 

Kagome interrupted his thoughts as she twisted in his arms, and looking up into his eyes, said the words he needed to hear, “I love you too. And if you're marrying me for that and not for your father and not to protect my name, then I'll marry you today.”

 

Inuyasha smiled; happy because she had agreed to be his wife and happy because she was smiling at him.

 

“You would marry me today?”

 

Kagome nodded. “We are in an abbey town.”

 

XXXXXXXXXXXX

 

“Inuyasha? Are you coming? We're almost to Paris.” Kagome knocked on the hanyou's train cabin door.

 

She was met by silence, a thud, and finally a slightly irate Inuyasha. “I'm almost done with the letter.” He growled at her as he looked at her through the crack in the cabin door.

 

“The letter can wait, Paris cannot,” Kagome insisted. She stepped into his cabin and collected his coat. Snatching up his hand, she lead him along with her hopping pace.

 

“But I was almost done,” Inuyasha whined, but allowed himself to be tugged along.

 

“My father will know soon enough that we're married. Can't we just enjoy Paris? You know the instant we get back to London, my mother is going to be planning another wedding for us.”

 

She paused for a moment to give her new husband a kiss.

 

Inuyasha finally acquiesced, “I guess the letter could wait. The less time our parents have to plan, the less of a three-ring circus they can make.”

 

“I know you would see it my way,” Kagome smiled.

 

Inuyasha helped her off the train, and onto the platform so they could venture out onto the busy streets of Paris.