InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Flower Girl ❯ Wedded Love (Part One) ( Chapter 88 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

---oOo---

Perfect.

The clearing grew silent as Kagome stepped from the silken pavilions that had been set up for the guests and for the bride and her attendants to ready themselves.

All those who were remaining outside Bokuseno's glade to wait for the end of the ceremony itself, held their breaths in awe of the one that Sesshoumaru had chosen as his own.

From her head, raven hair twisted into an elegant updo and held in place by the jeweled combs the Lord had provided, to her stunning wedding kimono draped artfully around her form to show off the beauty of it and it's mistress, to her dainty feet encased in soft slippers to match the kimono, she was truly perfection, and it was readily apparent why the Lord had ordered so many sweet william to line her path.

With a brilliant smile, Kagome blushed, and stood, waiting so that all could see, hoping they would approve, and she bowed slowly when answering smiles broke out on the faces of every person in the clearing.

Oh, gods... I'm so nervous! What if Sesshoumaru doesn't like it? What if he decides I'm not good enough?!

She closed her eyes, then, and shook her head slightly. No. He wouldn't do that. If he was going to change his mind, he'd have already done it.

"Kagome?" A soft voice interrupted her panicked musings, and she opened her eyes.

"Hai?" she whispered.

Yuka smiled at her, as did Eri, and Ayumi said, "You look... it's beyond anything I've ever seen. This whole thing - it's incredible! Who would have ever guessed that your fate would be so different?" She looked back as music began to play, then turned with a smile. "Go on, girl, your gorgeous youkai Lord is waiting for you... we'll be here when your done."

Kagome inhaled deeply, straightening her shoulders, she smiled, and nodded.

I can do this...

With that, she began walking, the only sign of nervousness being her fingers clenched tightly around her bouquet of flowers - and no one could see that, so it was okay in her mind.

Honestly... I don't know why I'm so scared...

Eyes glued to the open area in the thick vegetation, the only place one could enter Bokuseno's clearing, she kept pace, forcibly blanking everything in her mind down and concentrating only on getting where she was going without falling.

She smiled a little as she noted the flower petals on the ground, the only things laying there, outlining the path she was to walk.

The thought that Rin had probably enjoyed that part of things immensely crossed distantly through her thoughts, then, and a slight smile quirked the sides of her mouth; it was in that instant that she caught sight of her intended.

She almost faltered, then, the vision of the beautiful male she was marrying stripping her of every thought, leaving her unable to even react: even her voice was silenced.

He was beyond beautiful - that word just no longer even applied.

Tall, silvan, he stood commandingly at the entrance to Bokuseno's glade, waiting for her, his garments traditionally white, though the crest of his house was not red this time, but black. He wore no armor, but yet carried one sword - tensaiga, the fang of healing, and of life.

Tokijiin, that devil of a blade, had no place here - just as death did not.

Sesshoumaru himself was just as stunned when he first caught sight of her, though he controlled it and his face did not show his reaction. She was breathtaking, just as he'd known she would be... and looking at her face, he was amused - he was absolutely positive that she was completely unaware of her appeal.

She was too focused on his.

That would bode well for... later.

As she slowly approached him, he said nothing, merely held out one elegant hand, and waited for her to accept it. This was the first step... her first acceptance of him as a husband.

Kagome smiled, and, blushing lightly, laid one hand in the palm of his, and waited for him to close his hand around hers. This was his first acceptance of her as a wife.

Eyes fierce on hers, demanding and proud, Sesshoumaru held her gaze for several seconds, then turned and led her slowly towards the youkai tree, allowing everyone in the glade time to see the perfection of his bride.

He stopped, finally, as they stood before the ancient forest guardian, and they both faced him as he looked them over.

"Sesshoumaru of the House of the West. Why have you come before me?" His voice carried all the echoes of millenia, and Kagome shivered.

"This one comes before you to take the Miko as wife," Sesshoumaru said, formally.

The trees rustled slightly in the clearing, it was the only sound, as everyone else waited almost breathlessly for the ceremony to continue. None here had ever seen a youkai wedding.

Bokuseno's wizened face shifted, and he turned his gaze on Kagome. "Do you accept this male as husband, Miko?" he asked.

Kagome nodded firmly, her voice steady, though soft. "Yes." Unspoken, but clear in her eyes as she looked at him was another word. Always.

Sesshoumaru's gaze did not leave hers as the ancient youkai addressed him again. "And you, Sesshoumaru - you accept this woman as wife, for now, and for eternity? Knowing that you can never take another?"

No hesitation in his voice, he said simply, "Yes."

Bokuseno rattled his boughs, and looked beyond the couple standing before him, to those gathered in the clearing. "Does anyone here, from his family, or her own, disagree with this union?"

Silence reigned as smiles broke out on the faces of those gathered in the clearing - family, and pack. And the children, who grinned, breathlessly waiting for it to be done, so they could play their parts.

When nothing was said, a smile broke out on Bokuseno's face, as well, and he nodded towards the couple, who were still holding each others gazes.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, place the mark of your house, and claim your bride."

An almost imperceptible smile tipped one corner of Sesshoumaru's mobile mouth, and he let go of the hand he still held, to take the other one, and tenderly turn it over to expose his partial mark.

Kagome flinched again, then sighed. "This is the worst part," she said softly, knowing none would hear but him, "but I'm ready."

One brow cocked, he tilted his head slightly as his fingertip began to glow with his marking poison. "I thought you decided that this was not as... terrifying as you had thought."

"It wasn't... but that doesn't mean it was fun, either," she chuckled, managing to not flinch as he put his claw to her skin, and began to etch the pattern of his house into the already existing crescent moon that he had placed what seemed so long ago.

"Hn." He finished quickly, and noting her rather pained expression, he lifted her wrist, and slowly licked over the remainder of the poison, soothing the wound.

Kagome blushed, and dropped her eyes, and then Sesshoumaru turned and held her mark out for the youkai to see. "It is done. This onna is now marked as belonging to me - and my house," voice calm, yet triumphant at the same time.

Mine!

Once Bokuseno took in the mark, he addressed the rest of the clearing as the new couple turned to face the group. "This Bokuseno has witnessed the acceptance within these two, and the marking - they are now wed. Bow before Lord and Lady Taisho Sesshoumaru of the House of the West," he boomed in an exuberant voice.

As bows, and then cheers broke out in the glade, happy family and pack swarmed the couple, calls of 'kiss her' breaking out. With a blush on the part of the new bride, and a smirk on the part of the groom, they got their wish.

Just as they pulled apart to laughter and excited chatter, one voice broke above them all, and Kagome turned, startled. There was Rin, standing high in the boughs of the ancient tree, calling for her mother's attention.

"Rin! What are you doing?!" Kagome was horrified... what was she doing climbing so high?

"I'm the flower girl, mama... and me'n Bokuseno'n Sesshoumaru-sama have a surprise!" With that, the clearing was suddenly filled with a shower of flowers coming from above as a swirl of winds filled the clearing and rattled the boughs of the trees, and Kagome's eyes widened, as she laughed with surprised joy.

"Sesshoumaru-sama picked the flowers we would use, mama, and when we would do it!" she chattered as she climbed down, helped by Bokuseno himself lowering his boughs to the ground for the tiny child when the rain of flowers started to come to an end, and Kagome looked around herself, taking note of the flowers that lay around her in glorious profusion.

Amaranth, for fidelity - babys breath, for happiness, sweet william for perfection,
white carnation - pure love, clover for fertility and domestic virtue, here she blushed, heliotrope for devotion and eternal love, ivy for wedded love, white lily, virginity, even deeper blush, peony for happy marriage, red tulip for I love you... and roses... orange and yellow... she frowned, I'm not sure what those are for.

She looked up at her new husband, a question in her eyes. "The roses...?"

He smiled slightly down at her, then leaned down to speak into her ear. "Passionate thoughts," he whispered, and felt a flash of heat go through himself at the sudden heat from her body.

"Oh," she sighed, staring into his eyes, and he chuckled silently as he straightened back up, holding out his arm.

"Come, then, Lady Taisho - we are not finished yet. There is one more surprise for you," he said.

Kagome's eyes widened as she put her arm over his, and with that, he led the group out of the clearing after a formal thank you to the forest youkai they were leaving behind.

One half of the wedding done... now, onto the second part, he thought. And afterwards...

The final claiming.

---oOo---

A/N: Okay, I tried. I tried and tried to get this into one chapter, but there was just no way. As it is, this chapter is hella longer than any other, so, it had to stop. The second half of the chapter will be posted tomorrow... as Sesshoumaru is getting frustrated in the delay of his wedding night. (cough cough)

Amber