InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Short Straw ❯ Chapter eight ( Chapter 8 )

The Short Straw

By Flamingwillows

Chapter eight

"I'm asking you to be my wife, Miss Kagome."

The words fell like stones into a pool, spreading ripples of silence in their wake. Kagome stared at him, her dark eyes round with shock, that soft mouth of hers ever so slightly open. The sound of Kagura sobbing could be heard from another room.

"Your wife?" Kagome's voice rose in a squeak. She lifted one shaking hand and pressed it to her bosom, wondering if it was possible that a heart could beat so hard it actually jumped right out of a body. "You want to marry me?"

"That's the idea."

She was going to turn him down. He could see it in her face, in the stunned look in her eyes. She was going to say no, which was no more than he deserved, rushing into this like a thirsty bull heading for water.

Koga gave in to the urge to tug at his collar. This had been a damn fool idea from the start. When he got back to the ranch he was going to find Miroku and punch him right in the nose. It had been his damn fool notion that one of them had to get married in the first place. If it wasn't just like his little brother to get him into a situation like this. He'd knock him into next Sunday. He'd-

"Yes." Koga was so absorbed in his plans for revenging himself on Miroku that it took a moment for Kagome's breathless response to register.

"What?"

"I said yes. I'd be most honored to be your wife, Mr. Sukanami."

"You would?"

"Yes." Kagome's lips curved up in a quaking smile. "Of course, if you regret the proposal, I'd not-"

"No, no, of course not." Koga said hurriedly. There was more conviction in his voice than in his heart, though. Now that it had come right down to it and he was an engaged man, Koga was less sure than ever that this was a good idea. But he'd proposed and she'd accepted and that was all there was to it.

He stared at her lowered head, wondering what he was supposed to do or say now. Should he kiss her? The thought held considerable appeal, but from the way she was all but tying her fingers in knots, he thought she might jump like a scalded cat if he touched her.

`Now what?' Kagome wondered, staring at her fingers. Was he going to kiss her? The thought made her tremble with an emotion somewhere between terror and delight. It was on thing to imagine what it might be like to have Koga kiss her. It was something else altogether to contemplate it actually happening.

"I'm honored, Miss Higurashi." Koga said as the silence threatened to stretch awkwardly.

"The honor is mine, Mr. Sukanami." Kagome still could bring herself to look at him.

There was another period of silence.

"Maybe we should talk to your aunt and uncle," Koga said finally. "Make arrangements about dates and such."

Torn between disappointment that he wasn't going to kiss her and relief about the same, Kagome could only nod. It was only when he rose and went to the door that she dared to steal a glance at him. She felt dizzy, her thoughts tumbling wildly. The only one that came clear was that Koga Sukanami had just asked her to marry him. Incredible, unbelievable as it seemed, she was actually going to marry him.

The idea didn't become much more real, even when Uncle Naraku and Aunt Kikyo joined them in the study. Kikyo's eyes reflected such dazed disbelief that Kagome wanted to giggle. There was no sign of Kagura. She was probably lying in her room with a damp cloth over her forehead, trying to absorb the reality that, not only was her despised cousin going to make it to the altar before she did, but she was marrying a man Kagura had set her own sights on. The thought made Kagome smile, the first time she'd done so since Koga's proposal.

Koga didn't know what had made his affianced wife smile, but he was glad to see a little color creep back into her face. She'd been so pale that he'd wondered if she might not just keel over right where she was sitting. Her eyes skittered past his and her cheeks took on a bit more color before she looked back down at her hands. She really was a shy little thing, Koga thought, feeling almost indulgent.

"I guess you'll be wanting to set a date," Naraku said grudgingly. He'd offered the appropriate good wishes in a flat tone that drained any meaning from them.

"I think I could manage by the end of summer," Kikyo said reluctantly.

"I had in mind two weeks from this next Saturday," Koga said.

"Two weeks!" Kikyo's voice rose sharply. "Impossible!"

"I don't see why," Koga said. "Unless the preacher isn't going to be around. Spring calving should be just about over by then. Seems to me like a good time to have a wedding."

"It's obvious you've never been married before, Mr. Sukanami." Kikyo said with a heavy, dry humor. "Weddings take time to arrange. There are things to be done."

"What sort of things?" Koga asked, starting to feel impatient. Dammit, this whole business of finding a wife had already taken enough of his time.

"Since this has been so sudden, I think we should have a party to announce the engagement and introduce the two of you."

"Introduce us?" Koga raised his brows. "To who? Unless there's been a sudden rush of immigrants, there's not many people in this town that don't already know each other."

"Introduce you as a couple, Mr. Sukanami." Kikyo said, with just a touch of condescension. "We need people to get used to the idea that you and Kagome are . . . seeing one another." The words seemed to stick in her throat. "Then we can announce your engagement. There'll be a few parties. We'll have invitations to write and Kagome will need a wedding dress. These things may not seem important to you, Mr. Sukanami, nut this sort of thing is dear to the female heart. God willing, a woman is only married once in her life. I'm sure you wouldn't want to deny Kagome the opportunity to enjoy all the little traditions that go along with it."

Koga swallowed the urge to argue. If this sort of feminine fussing was what a woman considered necessary for her wedding day, he supposed he had no choice but to go along with it. He could hardly start his marriage off by denying his bride her heart's desire. But the thought of spending the summer traipsing back and forth to town, attending the sort of gatherings Kikyo thought appropriate . . . he barely restrained a shudder.

"Two weeks sounds just fine to me," It was the first time Kagome has spoken since the discussion began, and three pairs of eyes immediately swiveled in her direction, reflecting varying degrees of surprise, as if her presence had been all but forgotten.

"Don't be absurd, Kagome." Kikyo said sharply "You have no idea the amount of work that goes into a proper wedding."

"I can't think of anything that can't be done in two weeks," Kagome responded calmly.

Kikyo recognized the set of her niece's chin and knew there'd be no budging her. How such a quiet girl could have such a stubborn streak, she'd never understand. Heaven knew, she'd done her best to break her of it, and there'd been times when she thought she'd succeeded. Then something would come up and the girl would set her chin that particular way and Kikyo knew nothing less than a team of wild horses would be able to change her mind.

Kagome ignored the knot in her stomach and met her aunt's angry gaze. If Koga wanted to get married in two weeks, then two weeks it would be. It wasn't as if she were leaving behind a happy home, she thought. Besides, two weeks gave Koga less time to change his mind and decide that hiring a housekeeper would be better than taking a wife.

Koga smiled at his fiancée, thinking that he'd made a good choice. They weren't even married yet and she was already anxious to please him.

"It's not possible." Kikyo said, but there was defeat in her tone.

"We'll manage." Kagome's tone was quiet but implacable. She wondered if her aunt's desire to delay the wedding wasn't based on the hope that Koga would come to his senses and choose Kagura, after all.

"A rushed wedding is bound to cause talk. People will wonder if there isn't a reason for hurrying things along." Kikyo's tone was concerned, but the look she shot between them was suspicious, as if she were wondering if they knew each other better than she'd thought. "There'll be talk."

"Not in my hearing." Koga straightened. "Not more than once." The cool threat in the flat statement was enough to silence even Kikyo.

So the date was set for two weeks after the coming Saturday. Not long after, Koga took his leave. As a newly engaged woman, Kagome was allowed to walk him to the front porch without a chaperon. Though, engaged or not, Kagome couldn't see why she'd need a chaperon, not when the porch was in full view of anyone riding by.

Koga's horse stood in front of the house, reins looped through the iron handle that an enterprising blacksmith had attached to an old cannonball. The gray stood on three legs, drowsing in the late afternoon sun, switching his tail occasionally to discourage flies.

Kagome linked her hands together in front of her and tried to think of something to say. She'd just become engaged to this man. There must be a great many things that needed to be said, but not a one came to mind.

"I don't know if I'll be able to make it back to town between now and the wedding." Koga said.

"That's all right. I know you've a great deal of work to do and I'll be busy with the wedding preparations and suchlike." She risked lifting her eyes to his face and found him watching her with an unreadable expression "I . . . I'll do my best to be a good wife to you, Mr. Sukanami." It had seemed like a good thing to say.

"Don't try too hard. I don't want too high a standard to live up to." His crooked grin made her breathless all over again. "And I guess you'd better start calling me Koga."

"I'll try to keep that in mind." Kagome smiled. As if she'd ever forgotten it.

The quick, teasing smile surprised him and so did his reaction to it. He had the urge to pull her into his arms and press his mouth to hers, to see if that smile tasted as sweet as it looked. And probably scare her to death in the process.

He looked away from temptation, squinting out into the sunlight instead. When he looked at her again, her smile had faded but a trace of it still lingered around her mouth. She was looking at him with those big brown eyes, innocent as a newborn fawn. But the thoughts she inspired in him were far from innocent. The slight fullness of her lower lip drew his attention. He probably wouldn't see her again until the wedding, which was over two weeks away, and it suddenly seemed impossible that he should leave without even a taste of her.

Kagome's eyes widened as Koga's hand came up, his fingers cupping her cheek. The only other time he'd touched her was when she'd spilled cherry pie all over his shirt.. Then, the quick acceleration of her pulse might have been caused by the disasterous circumstances. But her pulse was beating just as rapidly now and there wasn't a disaster in sight.

She could feel the roughness of calluses on his hand and she suddenly thought of Hojo's hand, pressing hers in greeting, soft and vaguely damp and lacking the work-roughened strength of Koga's.

"Do you suppose there'd be any objections to a man kissing his future wife?" His voice was husky, his face close enough that she could feel the brush of his breath against her skin.

Kagome tried to find her voice, swallowed and tried again, but nervous anticipation had closed her throat, stealing her voice. She settled for an almost imperceptible shake of her head, not certain whether it was permission or protest.

And then it was too late for either. His mouth was touching hers, and all her innocent imaginings about what a kiss would be disappeared in a rush of heat. She closed her eyes, lost in sensation. His lips were warm and dry, softer than she'd imagined they would be. Even as she thought that, Koga's lips firmed against hers, his hand cupping the back of her neck as he tilted her face up to his, deepening the kiss. Drawn off balance, Kagome set her palm against his chest to steady herself and was immediately aware of the strong beat of his heart beneath her hand.

Koga felt the light touch burn though the fabric of his shirt, heating his skin as if she held a branding iron. He momentarily forgot that he was standing on the banker's front porch in broad daylight, and that the girl in his arms was as innocent as a child. His tongue came out, tracing the tempting fullness of her lower lip, coaxing her to let him inside.

Immediately she stiffened, drawing in a quick shocked breath, her fingers suddenly tense against his chest. It wouldn't take much to change her shock to surrender, he thought, his fingers tightening on the back of her neck. But this was no dance hall girl, or even the woman he'd once kept company with in a neighboring town until she'd realized that letting him into her bed would not put a wedding ring on her finger.

His mouth lifted from hers, his fingers loosening their hold on her nape. She sank back onto her heels and it was only then that he realized she'd been standing on tiptoe to kiss him. He was reminded of his brother's words that there didn't seem to be much to her. But there was plenty, he decided, dropping his hand to his side and stepping back from her. Plenty to fill a man's arms and his bed.

Two weeks, he reminded himself. He settled his hat on his head. "I'll see you in church."

"Yes." Kagome's agreement was hardly more than a breath. She couldn't have said another word if her life had depended on it. Koga looked at her, his eyes shadowed by the brim of his hat. He nodded, as if satisfied with what he saw, and then he turned and walked down the steps.

Kagome watched him bend and unloop the reins from the cannonball, and then he was swinging up into the saddle with an easy grace that made her breath catch. He reined the gray around, glancing back at her and touching his fingertips to the brim of his hat before nudging the horse into a canter. She watched until he was out of sight. Only then did her heartbeat slow to something approaching normal.

She was getting married. And she was marrying Koga Sukanami. Wait until Sango heard about this!

Howdy! Sorry it took me a bit longer to get this chapter up. I promise, nine is done and will be up as soon as I get it back from my editor! Thanks for reading, Ja!