InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Once Upon a Time ❯ Midnight Confessions ( Chapter 32 )

Disclaimer: They’re still not mine, although I won’t give up hoping.

32. Midnight Confessions  

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

The hanyou shook his head. “I didn’t think she’d ever go to sleep. I couldn’t take the chance of her catching me here.”

The woman sat down at the table and gestured to the space across from her. “I talked to the others this afternoon. That was a good move on your part--walking away like that. I didn’t know how we were going to get rid of Kagome.”

He sighed in relief: apparently she hadn’t recognized his distress earlier in the day. “So, how do things stand?”

“Well, we have the three main people we need for the ceremony--I think they’ll work out well enough, although it never would have occurred to me to use your little fox kit friend.”

“Shippou?!” His jaw hung open for a fraction of a second. When he recovered, he said, “Here’s the list you wanted.”

She opened the folded slip of paper and looked at the rather sloppy writing on it. Stuffing it in her purse, she said, “If you can arrange to come to my house three days after I go home I can have the invitations ready for you to pick up--you’ll have to make sure they are delivered to the right people.” She pulled out four of the magazines the women had been looking at earlier in the day. “By watching Kagome’s reactions while we were looking at these before, we managed to narrow some of our choices down a bit, but you’ll have to make the final decisions.”

As she had expected, he preferred the beaded ivory dress to any of the others. In the case of men’s formalwear, though, she was rather surprised when he indicated a definite leaning in the direction of a smoky grey tuxedo with a scarlet bow tie: she would have expected something rather more traditional from him. He agreed with her choice of the kimono for Sango but rejected the usual mixed seasonal flowers. “I’ve been talking to Kaede about flowers and herbs, and she tells me that a lot of them have meanings associated with them. Kagome knows quite a bit about that kind of stuff, so I think she would get the message if I make the choices based on that. I want mostly red roses with some white ones, some white lilies, and rosemary for greens. Now,” he said, “What arrangements have been made so far?”

The woman showed him the sample invitation she had brought for his approval. “I had a friend of mine at the university design this--I told her a little about you two, and she designed it based on that. I think it’s pretty appropriate.”

He looked at the design with surprise, noting the deep red of the roses blooming around the sword and the vine’s thorns that matched the silver of the blade. “It’s…amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“That’s not all,” she said. “I think we have a date--what about the new moon after this one: about six weeks from now.”

He nodded. “From what I’ve been able to find out, I didn’t think we’d be able to do it any sooner than that. I think you can expect us that morning.” He handed her a fine gold chain with an enormous black pearl hanging from it. “This was my mother’s--a gift from my father. Could you sell it for me?”

She simply stared at him for a few moments. “Why on earth would you want to sell something this beautiful?”

“There’s something I want you to do for me, and it’ll probably take money.” At her expectant look, he continued, “I want Kagome to find her room filled with roses when we arrive there that day--that’s where I want to tell her what we’ve been doing.”

She reached out and grabbed his arm, extending his hand in her direction. Taking the pearl form him, she dropped it back into his palm, closing his fingers around it. “You shouldn’t sell off the things that belonged to your mother--someday you’ll want to pass them along to your own family. We have a huge budget for this--we’ve been saving money for Kagome’s wedding since the day she was born. We can more than afford the cost of some roses.” She looked at him. “There are just a couple of things. Maybe you could come back the day before the new moon? That way, if we need to make any changes in clothing or any of the other arrangements we’ll have time to get them done. That will also give Kagome time to get over the shock before the ceremony.”

He nodded slowly, a little in awe of the woman across from him. Suddenly realizing that he had been away far longer than he had originally planned, he got up to return to his sleeping mate. “I have to be getting back.”

“Before we go,” she said, “Could you arrange to spend an entire day with me when you come to pick up the invitations? There are a few other things we’ll need to take care of, and I’m afraid I’ll need to have you with me for them.”