InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Once Upon a Time ❯ Keeping Secrets ( Chapter 34 )

Disclaimer: They’re still not mine, but I can dream, can’t I?

34. Keeping Secrets  

He leaped out of the well in that strange future world and climbed the short flight of steps to the upper part of the well house. Peeking outside to make sure that he could reach the house unobserved, he raced for the larger building. Letting himself in through the upstairs window that had always been his main access, he went downstairs, looking for the woman who had asked him to be there. “Higurashi-san?”

She emerged from the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel. “There’s no need to be so formal, dear. You’re family now--call me ‘Mama,’ if you feel like it.”

He blushed a little, looking away. “I think I’d like that.”

“That’s settled, then. Why don’t you go upstairs and change--we have a lot to do.”

The first stop on what seemed to be shaping up to be a marathon shopping excursion was a small jeweler only a few blocks from the Higurashi shrine itself. On the way, the woman explained some of the common traditions behind the exchange of rings in the ceremony. “There are a lot of styles available, in a number of different materials. Most people use gold, but that probably wouldn’t be the best possible choice for you--it’s much too soft to stand the kind of abuse it would take in your time.” She shook her head. “I know that there are a lot of jewelers in the city, but this place has an excellent reputation.”

The clerk in the jewelry store looked up as the door opened and a woman entered with a very odd young man in tow. “Can I help you with something?”

The woman nodded. “I hope so. We’d like to see something in wedding rings.”

The clerk led the two to a small counter and motioned for them to take the two chairs by the clear glass cases. “What does the engagement ring look like?”

The woman glanced at her companion, then said, “Maybe we should see a selection of those as well.”

While the clerk went to the locked case of rings to bring out a selection, she whispered to the young man sitting next to her, “Men often present their future brides with a ring as a sort of symbol of the pledge they’re making to each other. These are usually a little more elaborate than the wedding rings, and often have a stone set in them, usually a diamond, although a lot of people choose other stones that have a special significance for them.”

The woman was growing more and more impressed with her companion. Although he was often stubborn and frequently unruly, he learned quickly and was extremely decisive once he understood the situation. The choices were made rapidly: an engagement ring of platinum with a rectangular deep red garnet flanked by two triangular pieces of polished amber. He matched wedding rings were also platinum, in an extremely simple but elegant design: the one he chose for his mate was essentially plain, with decorative engraving in the form of a vining rose around the outside, small oval garnets representing the rosebuds. His own ring was nearly identical, but without the stones. Although it was easy enough to measure the young man for his ring, his intended wasn’t present, complicating things somewhat. The older woman had apparently anticipated this particular difficulty, as she produced a birthstone ring that the clerk was able to measure to find the correct size.

The arrangements were concluded quickly. The rings were ordered, complete with the necessary information for the commemorative engraving on the inside surfaces. After exchanging the briefest of pleasantries, the two very odd customers left the store.

The woman shook her head in amazement as the two walked down the street, heading for the mall nearest the shrine. “You just keep surprising me.”

He glanced up in surprise. “What did I do?”

“Here you are in a situation very different from anything you have the slightest experience in, and you walk in, take charge, and make exactly the right decisions. How do you do that?”

He shrugged, enjoying the feel of the silk shirt as it flowed over his muscles. “I just try to think about what Kagome would like.”

She shook her head again. “Well, I can’t deny that you have a very god eye--everything you’ve chosen so far has been absolutely exquisite.”

He had no answer for that.

Although the hanyou bristled slightly at being measured for the formalwear, a few brief words of explanation convinced him that the process was necessary. Again, he made his choices quickly, obviously having given the matter a considerable amount of thought despite the short time since the decision to do this had been made. In addition to the tie, he chose a matching cummerbund and pocket handkerchief in the same intense red. Once the woman explained the function of cuff links, he decided on a silver pair set with large garnets.

As he looked out into the mall at the huge variety of people and things visible through the window, Kagome’s mother took care of the arrangements, explaining that she would be bringing in two more young men within a few days to be fitted for the same items.

The woman behind the counter nodded slowly. Whoever this girl was, she was incredibly fortunate--so few young men took any interest at all in making these arrangements. She had never before seen one quite so decisive about it. She watched the two after they left the shop until they were completely lost to her view in the crowd of strangers.

At the florist he was equally adamant about his choices, both for the ceremony itself and for his planned surprise the day before.

Even though the florist was more than a little taken aback by the strange young man’s insistence on such a large number of roses--he would probably be emptying the city of the blooms--he and the older woman with him were more than willing to provide a large cash deposit to insure that his wishes were carried out.

Although the hanyou had little knowledge of twenty-first century finances, it seemed to him that they were spending a great deal of money. “This is costing a lot, isn’t it?”

She laughed. “Not as much as you think. Like I told you, we have been preparing for this for nearly sixteen years--we can more than handle it. By the way,” she continued, “You never explained how you managed to get away today.”

He shrugged. “Kagome is spending the day with Kaede--talking about medicine, or women’s stuff, or something like that.”

Without the slightest change in her tone of voice or expression, the woman checked her watch, shaking her head. “We have to be getting back to the house. I’m having some samples from Kagome’s favorite restaurant delivered so that we can make some decisions about the menu. At this point, I’m leaning in the direction of a buffet with a large variety of small dishes rather than a large sit-down meal. That way, everybody can choose the foods that they like the most.” Pulling the small notepad from her bag, she nodded in satisfaction. “We’ve gotten everything we needed to do today done, and in record time, too.”

The woman looked at the young man opposite her. “All right,” she said. “Tell me everything.”

The hanyou blinked at the woman across the table. She was, he decided, more like Kagome than a parent had any right to be. “What do you mean?”

She nodded slowly. His brief stumbling over the words and the quick shifting of his eyes told her clearly that something was up, but she didn’t know him well enough to recognize the dead giveaway in his twitching ears. “I know there’s something going on with you and Kagome that nobody’s seen fit to tell me about. What is it?”

He looked at her miserably. “I can’t. Kagome will roast me over a slow fire if I say anything.” He looked at her almost guiltily. “There’s nothing wrong, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

She smiled then, and the tension in the room vanished as though it had never been. “I’m sorry, dear. I should never have put you in the middle that way. I just worry about her sometimes--she gets so involved in things that she can forget to take care of herself.”

He shook his head slowly. “She gets careless, too. She’ll run right out into the middle of a dangerous situation without giving it a second thought.”

The woman shook her head. “That’s not exactly the same thing, you know. She only does that because she knows you’ll be there to keep her safe.”

He shrugged. “It’s only fair--she takes care of me when I need it, too. Remember that night in your well house? She’s pretty territorial when it comes to that kind of thing.”

Satisfied that he was telling the truth when he had said that nothing was wrong, she checked her watch yet again. “You should think about getting back before Kagome starts to get suspicious.” She went to the closet and retrieved a small box of rolled scrolls tied with silver ribbons. “You don’t want to go without these. Each one is labeled with the name of the person it goes to. Try to get them delivered as soon as possible. Also, try to keep track of the answers, so we know how many people to expect.”

As he walked back to the shrine’s well house she reminded him that she would be going to his world in a few days to help coordinate even more of the endless pile of details surrounding the plans.