InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unexpeced Allies Part III: Trial of the Century ❯ When the Gang's All Here... ( Chapter 22 )

SF: Only one more chapter! Boo hoo!

Chapter Twenty:

When The Gang's All Here…

*A few months later*

Kagome gazed wistfully as one of the doves from the ceremony settled into one of the above tree branches, wishing she were flying instead of standing here listening to her mother harp endlessly. Speaking of Mom…

"Kagome, stand right here," Kagome's mother said as she tugged Kagome away from the tree to a clear spot a few feet away.

Kagome followed listlessly, complaining the entire way. "Mom, can't we do this later!"

Kagome's mother shook her head esthetically. "NO we can't! Its not everyday my only daughter gets married!" She positioned Kagome and pulled out her camcorder. "Now move a little to the left," she waved her hand a little when Kagome grudgingly did so. "Now back up a little. Perfect!" She gave Kagome the thumbs-up sign. "Now tell the folks about your dress."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

Kagome huffed in irritation. "Fine. I'm wearing a white-"

"Of course," Kagome's mother interrupted, earning a growl from Kagome.

"Now now," came a voice from off camera. Kagome's mother paned the camcorder to the left, toward the voice. Sesshoumaru appeared in the lens a few moments later, smiling at Kagome's distress. He leaned casually against a nearby tree, his open suit jacket draping down the side of the tree. "You know your mother means well."

"But to describe my dress ON CAMERA?!" Kagome huffed as Kagome's mother paned back to her. Sesshoumaru chuckled, and again Kagome's mother swung the camcorder toward him. 'I give up,' Kagome's mother sighed. She stepped back enough to catch the bickering couple on camera at the same time, smiling as the other guests stopped to look at them.

"I'm glad you think this is funny, you jerk!"

"It is, actually. Just humor her."

"You humor her!"

"Ahem," Kagome's mother said, watching through the lens as Sesshoumaru and Kagome turned toward her. "Hurry up before my battery runs out."

"Fine fine," Kagome muttered as she stood perfectly still. "Ok, as I said, I'm wearing a white halter-style dress that stops at my ankles. My shoes-" she stopped to raise the hem of the skirt up to show her clear slippers "are fashioned for me to look like Cinderella, which is my mother's idea. My hair is up, duh huh, and well, that's it. Now go torture someone else Mom!"

"I'm not through yet," Kagome's mother said as she motioned for the rest of the family to come into the picture. She put the camcorder down and reached inside her purse for a camera.

"Oh no" Kagome groaned as her mother started placing people where she wanted them. "Not another picture!"

"Of course another picture!" Kagome's mother crowed as she placed Mira beside Kagome. "Now don't start griping!"

"I can't help it!" Kagome cried, tugging on the bodice of her dress with Amy casting her a pitying look from Kagome's left. "You didn't take the dress up right! I can't breathe in this thing!"

"You should have said something earlier," Kagome's mother told her. "Now, if InuTaisho and Inuyasha would stand behind Mira and Amy please. Sesshoumaru, stand behind Kagome."

The males did as they were told, while Kagome continued to glare. "Mother!"

"Be quiet Kagome," Kagome's mother said as she motioned for the children to move in front. Shippou stood in front of Kagome while Hamaru and Raiona, Inuyasa's kids, stood on either side of him. "Good children. Now everyone…Where are Souta and Jichan?"

"Still at the buffet table," Shippou grumbled, pulling on the collar of his shirt. "I'm hot okaa-san."

"Me too."

"And she can't breathe," Sesshoumaru teased as Kagome's mother dragged Souta and Jichan over to the group.

"Aww Mom!" Souta cried as he tried to get away. "Let go! I don't want-"

"Me either but you'd better get over here so she can finish so I can get out of this DRESS!" Kagome shouted. Hands instantly flew to ears as Mira, InuTaishou and Inuyasha winced. Sesshoumaru only shook his head, then scowled down at Kagome.

"Really Kagome, was that necessary?"

Kagome grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

"All right all right," Kagome's mother conceded. "Let's take one picture, then that'll be all for the day."

She programmed the camera and moved to stand beside Amy. On the way there, she tripped over Shippou's tail. Shippou squeaked and jumped up, landing on Souta's head. Souta stumbled backward and into Inuyasha, who fell into InuTaisho. InuTaisho, in an attempt to keep his balance and help Inuyasha break his fall, grabbed Mira, who wasn't ready for such treatment. Needless to say everyone ended up on the ground at Kagome and Sesshoumaru's feet…

And that's how the picture was taken.

"Alright," Kagome said after the flash went off. "That's it. No more pictures."

"Awwww…" Kagome's mother sighed. "That last one was a fluke Kagome. I need one more!"

"I wish we could help you," Sesshoumaru said, grasping Kagome by the waist and pulling her away from her mother. "But there is a council meeting in a few minutes, and I must prepare Kagome for it."

"Alright," Kagome's mother sighed. She picked up the camera and walked away as everyone but Inuyasha, Kagome and Sesshoumaru moved away from the field.

"Thanks Seishou!" Kagome whispered, standing on her tip-toes to give Sesshoumaru a kiss on the cheek. "I didn't want to take that picture anyway!"

"You're going to wish you had," Inuyasha groaned. "These council meetings suck."

"Council meeting? Where?" Kagome glanced from Sesshoumaru to Inuyasha, a dark, expectant look on her face. "Well?"

"Here."

"HERE?!!!! You can't be serious!!" She turned an angry glare at Sesshoumaru, her hands resting on her hips as her eyes narrowed dangerously. "You mean to tell me that there's a council meeting on our wedding day?!!!"

"It was not my planning," Sesshoumaru told her as he and Inuyasha watched the human guests leave the grounds. "It was decided on vote that they would meet you, and other matters would be discussed."

"What other matters?"

"Sesshoumaru promised the council something a few hundred years ago," Inuyasha explained, turning to wave at a couple as they walked past. "They've tried everything in their power to get him to mate someone. That's why he left Japan."

"Well why didn't you say something jerk!" Kagome growled, swatting his arm. Inuyasha winced playfully, jogging around Sesshoumaru as Kagome ran to hit him again.

"Now now," Sesshoumaru said as he grabbed her by her waist and held her still. "I need Inuyasha conscious for this."

"I still can't believe you!" Kagome huffed, casting one last angry look at Inuyasha before glaring at Sesshoumaru. "Why does it have to be here of all places?"

"You will see."

Kagome glared at his back as he walked toward the reception hall, then turned to ask Inuyasha about the meeting itself. "What's this going to be ab..o…Inuyasha?" Kagome glanced around, finding no trace of him in the field surrounding her nor the gazebo next to her. "Where did he go?"

"Auntie Kagome?"

Kagome looked down at the red head tugging at her skirt, smiling down at little Raiona before picking her up. "Yes sweetie?"

"Unkle Sesshoumaru wants you to go in there," she said, pointing to the reception hall. Kagome nodded. "I know."

"But Unkle Sesshoumaru hates it when we're late."

"Well," Kagome said with a huff. "We don't want to disappoint him, do we?" She walked to the reception hall, entering the doors before setting Raiona down. "Are you coming with me?"

Raiona shook her head. "Nope. Daddy said to stay outside. You can go in though."

"Thanks," Kagome said, giving Raiona one last pat on the head before opening the wooden double doors in front of her.

The noise alone nearly deafened her, but the silence that followed when she entered the room gave her pause. Kagome glanced around the packed room, finding all but a few faces glaring at her in contempt and disgust. She found Mira and InuTaishou onstage at the front of the room, seated directly to the right of the podium. She began the gauntlet toward them, attempting to ignore the whispers that floated around her.

"So this is the new Lady," one whispered as Kagome walked past. "There is nothing spectacular about her."

"Why does she look like a human?"

"Would Sesshoumaru stoop so low as to mate one?"

"Never!"

"But there is the little girl he kept around him!"

Kagome's temper rose with every comment, until she literally glowed with indignation. She stepped onstage and sat on Mira's right, furiously attacking the minute wrinkles in her skirt as she continued to shine like a morning star.

"Kagome," Mira whispered gently. "You must calm down."

"But have you heard what they've said!" Kagome hissed back. "The way they're talking about Sesshoumaru! And me!"

"They don't know what they're talking about," InuTaisho responded as Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha entered the room. "So ignore them. Take into account that, should you loose your temper and destroy everyone here, you would leave a lot of lands defenseless."

Kagome's eyes widened in surprise. "Everyone here," she gestured to the crowd below them. "Is a lord of some kind?"

"Of course," Mira said. "Just look to your right."

Kagome did, and immediately met familiar yellow eyes and black and orange striped hair. "Keni'Chi!"

She turned to Mira to ask more, but she as well as the rest of the crowd fell silent when Sesshoumaru stepped onstage. Inuyasha approached the table behind him, unwrapping a large bundle in his arms as Sesshoumaru called the meeting to order.

"Though I do not appreciate the timing," Sesshoumaru commented dryly. "I call this meeting to order. What is so important?"

"You promised us a weapon Sesshoumaru!" shouted an inu youkai with chocolate brown hair. "Where is it?"

"Surely we're not to believe that it's her!" shouted another, this one pointing a finger at Kagome.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed slightly, his irritation growing by leaps and bounds behind his emotionless mask. "You would do well to treat her with respect. She is, after all, the Lady of the lands you now stand in."

"You must be joking!" another disputed, this one a blue-haired kitsune. "She's nothing but a human! How is she supposed to stop the coming threat!"

"Threat?" Kagome whispered. "What's he talking about?"

"Shhh…" Mira hissed lightly. "You will find out in time."

"You hold your tongue!" Keni'Chi shouted as he too stood up. "I know that 'human' and she is more powerful that any of you! That is the miko that defeated Naraku!"

Disbelief and awed whispers floated through the crowd, some doubtful as a barely disguised panda youkai stood up.

"You speak lies, Southern Islands!" he spat angrily. "Everyone here knows that that human is nothing more than a myth."

"How dare you speak to him like that?!" Shorin growled heatedly. "We fought with the miko, and I assure you that-" she pointed to Kagome "is she!"

'They still think I'm human,' Kagome realized. 'Has Sesshoumaru not told them differently?'

"Enough." Everyone stopped and sat back down at Sesshoumaru's word, though the whispers still remained. "I assure you, Lord Keni'Chi is correct. My mate is the miko who defeated Naraku."

The whispers intensified, rounds of hows, whys, and whens swirling throughout the reception hall.

'Kagome…'

Kagome's head shot up instantly, then lowered again as she stifled a giggle. 'Yes Seishou?'

'What is so funny?'

Kagome shook her head. 'Nothing. You startled me.'

Sesshoumaru shook his head as well, thought those around him thought it for a different reason. 'I see. Retrieve your sword from Inuyasha.'

Kagome stood, and looked to Inuyasha curiously. Inuyasha winked back from behind the table, then gestured to it, where the Reioseiga, Tenseiga and the Tetsusaiga were displayed.

'And Kagome…'

'Yes Seishou?'

'Bring me Tenseiga as well.'

'Yes my lord,' Kagome griped jovially. She picked up both swords, holding them to her bosom as she bowed politely to Inuyasha. He bowed back, then gestured for her to stand by Sesshoumaru before grasping the Tetsusaiga.

"If you all would pay attention," Sesshoumaru began in the waning light, dimly aware of the sun setting overhead. "Then maybe I can quell your fears." The audience around him continued to shuffle about, but soon quieted as Sesshoumaru vowed to himself to maim whoever suggested that he be the leader of the council.

Kagome lightly tapped his forearm, instantly gaining his attention as she flashed him a quick smile. 'Are they getting on your nerves?' she asked as she handed him the Tenseiga.

'You have no idea.'

Kagome bit back her giggle, glancing behind her to Inuyasha as he stood on her right side before Sesshoumaru addressed the crowd.

"You are here to see my mate, and welcome her into society. You all are also here to see the weapon I promised you. Well, let us begin." He unsheathed the Tenseiga, then motioned for Inuyasha and Kagome to do the same. Each held their swords in front of them, then Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha passed the hilts of their swords into Kagome's waiting hands.

They transformed into the Tosuaiga instantly, the fang jerking up and toward the open skylight above them. Sesshoumaru's, Kagome's and Inuyasha's youki surrounded the blade, tendrils of blue, red, gold and green swirling around the blade before rocketing into the sky above. The crowd gasped in amazement, then disbelief as purple purity combined itself with the youki, strengthening it instead of destroying it as it should have.

The ki suddenly exploded in a blast of purple light, the force of the blast flattening Sesshoumaru, Kagome, and Inuyasha to the stage as the lords and ladies around them scampered for cover. The light dissipated moments later, with Sesshoumaru being the first to stand in the aftermath.

"Holy shit…" Inuyasha groaned as he sat up, one hand to his head before helping Kagome stand. "That sucked. I didn't know you could do that."

"Me either," Kagome grumbled, then glared at Sesshoumaru's back. "But I bet he did."

Inuyasha nodded in agreement, then helped Kagome brush herself off as Sesshoumaru turned back to the crowd. "There is the weapon I promised you. Now if this is over…"

"Of course Lord Sesshoumaru," the blue haired kitsune from earlier stammered after bowing respectfully. "My apologies for doubting your word."

The crowd murmured their agreements, each attempting to gain their composure and filing out of the room as Sesshoumaru turned to Inuyasha and Kagome. "Are you alright?" he asked, watching as Kagome finally batted Inuyasha's hands away.

"I'm fine. Just a little shaken up." She raised a hand to her hair, sighing wistfully when the simple French roll fell apart in her hands. "Great…" she grumbled as her hair tumbled to her shoulders in a midnight stream. "I paid good money for that style. You owe me $75 Seishou."

"Why?" he asked innocently. "It would have been ruined later on anyway."

"That's why you owe me the money," Kagome argued back, a light blush staining her cheeks. Inuyasha watched this silently, wondering to himself if it were nearly as funny when he and Kagome argued so many years ago.

"I seem to have run out of funds for this evening," Sesshoumaru replied back, reaching inside empty pockets. "However-" he jerked Kagome forward and into his embrace, an evil smirk on his face as he lowered his lips to her ear and whispered "I'm sure there is some other way I can repay you, ne?"

"Pervert," Kagome growled back, lightly whacking his arm and stepping back. "Don't you have some kind of lordly business to attend to?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Sesshoumaru stepped offstage and to the doors leading to the outside, turning once to glare at Inuyasha.

"Make sure nothing happens to her," Sesshoumaru instructed.

"But why?" Inuyasha complained. "She can handle herself."

"I do not wish for her to. Just do it."

"Yeah yeah," Inuyasha muttered, then flicked Sesshoumaru the bird when he finally left. "Pompous…"

"I see you two are getting along."

Inuyasha smiled to himself, then shrugged. "Whatever. He has been better though. I think it has a lot to do with Mira accepting me."

"Yeah…" Kagome sighed wistfully, then said "Though I'm going to miss the ears."

"What ears?" Inuyasha asked, only to be tapped on the head.

"Those ears. They were cool. And soft too."

"Oh, you mean these ears?" Kagome turned to him, and watched as his hair slowly faded to white, the snowy ears sprouting from the top of his head like weeds. "They never went anywhere."

"I thought-"

"That when Mira adopted me, that I lost the ears." Inuyasha shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, I did change. I'm more like ¾ youkai now. I just get to choose what kind of ears I want."

"Oh."

They sat in silence for a while, with Kagome thoughtfully twirling a strand of her hair before Inuyasha broke the silence.

"Are you…" he blushed when she turned to him. "Are you…gonna be happy with him?"

"Yes…" Kagome said with a happy sigh. "I think I will be."

"Do you love him?" Kagome nodded, with Inuyasha nodding with her. "I thought so. You know, I think he loves you too."

"Me too."

"So what can I say but welcome to the family!" He and Kagome broke into laughter, it settling down as quickly as it started. "No seriously. It's good to have you for a sister."

"And it's going to be…eventful having you for a brother," Kagome replied, giving him a quick hug before tweaking his ears. "um, Inuyasha. About Miroku and Sango-"

"Another time." He stood up, helping Kagome to her feet before they both walked to the doors Sesshoumaru disappeared behind. "But…"

"But?" Kagome said, her hand resting on the doorknob. Inuyasha sighed. "They were happy."

Kagome smiled, a true one that seemed to brighten the already sunny room around them. "Then we'll be happy too."

----

SF: Forgive Kagome's little rant about her dress. The lady that hemmed my dress for the prom made the bodice too tight. I couldn't breathe the entire evening. It felt like wearing a corset.

Kagome: IF you know those things are uncomfortable, why do I have to wear one in 'A Kiss'?

SF: Because I like the look they give. Trust me, some things are worth the torture. Did you know that English women used to use lead powder on their faces?

Silver Fox: I thought it was arsenic.

SF: You would think it was arsenic. {::thinks a moment::} Well…now that I think about it, it might be arsenic.

Sesshou: You should never give out incorrect information.

SF: Yeah, yeah. The next chapter's coming Saturday, not Friday. I don't know why I typed that. The one shot is Friday. It's an I/K for anyone who's wondering. Just thought I'd warn you now. The last chapter in the 'Unexpected Allies' series: Some Things Change, While Others Stay the Same.