Firebrand

~*~Updating again! My muse is on a roll this time. ^_^ This is the much awaited wedding chappy. Hope you guys won't be disappointed. Anyway, on to the thanx!

to Megan: Thanx for reviewing! *hug* BTW, what mistakes are you referring to? I'll see what I can do about it once you tell me okay? ^_^ LOVE YA LOTS!!!

to Sama: Hi! Thanx for the warm welcome. Are you someone who reviewed before and changed your name? If so, then I'm glad. I don't see my regular reviewers anymore. So I hope you'll become one okay! *wink* LOVE YA LOTS!!!

to Lere: Woah, easy there. ^_^ I have a very different kind of torture in mind for Inuyasha, and as for Kagome's feelings... *shrugs* time can only tell. Even I don't know how the story will be everytime I write it. ^_^ But hope you'll hang around to find out. LOVE YA LOTS!!!

to goldey: Here's what you asked for. ^_^ Thanx for the review! LOVE YA LOTS!!!

to I Queen Of Frozen Hearts: Wow, long username. ^_^ Thanx for reviewing and I'm sorry you don't like Kikyou in this story of mine. But give it time, she might grow on you. ^_^ Oh, and you rock too! *hug* LOVE YA LOTS!!!

to tornadotrail: Thanx for the review and for welcoming me back! *hug* It's great to be back. I missed writing and missed all of you guys. Honestly. As for your idea... it has merit. I'll think about it and let you know more in the next chappys okay? *wink* LOVE YA LOTS!!!

to amhor56: amhor!!! *hug* Finally, a familiar face. Or rather, name. ^_^ Thanx for sticking with me. I'm keeping quiet about your questions. You'll know in a couple chappys more okay? *wink* LOVE YA LOTS!!!

to Sutlesarcasm: Thanx for waiting around for me. *hug* And I'm loving the compliments! ^_^ I enjoy writing for you guys too. I hope you'll enjoy more every time you read. LOVE YA LOTS!!!

AND TO YOU READING THIS: I'm up to 6599 hits now! *smiles from ear to ear* God, but I love you people. And as long as I know someone's reading and enjoying my story, I'll continue to write. It may be late or slow in coming, but I promise I'll update okay? Hang in here with me okay! ^_^ Anyway, here's the next chappy. This is probably a lot longer than the other chappys and I've debated with myself for a long time if I'll leave it as it is or change it into something else, but either way I hope you guys like it.

Happy reading, everyone!!! LOVE YA LOTS!!! mwaah~*~

Firebrand
FaTaLfURy

Chapter Ten — To Have And To Hold

Inuyasha immediately headed towards the King’s private drawing room. The scowl on his face was enough to make the servants he encountered jump out of his way. The scowl intensified as someone deliberately blocked his path.

“Inuyasha! Thank God I found you. Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you,”

“Get out of my way, Miroku,”

“What? Wait. Why do you look like you want to kill somebody? You couldn’t have heard…. of course you could—“

Inuyasha shoved the marquis out of his way and went on walking. He had enough of his friend’s ramblings.

“Grey! Wait!”

He stopped just enough for his friend to catch up with him.

“If you’re not going to shut up, Miroku, then I’m going to personally render you speechless,”

Inuyasha threatened, but the marquis won’t be deterred.

“But this is important! I doubt if you’ve heard it already, being as you’ve not been around when the rumors erupted. The Lady Winters is missing, Inuyasha,”

Inuyasha didn’t give any outward reaction to that and just kept on walking. The marquis had to quicken his pace just to keep up with him.

“There’s more, I’m afraid. It appears that Montmouth took her with him to marry her. And that he is now officially the Duke of Norfolk. His father passed away this morning. In the midst of it all, Kagome—I mean, Miss Woodbine is missing. Will you stop walking and listen to me for a moment here? I know you need time for it all to sink in, but time’s not exactly what we have here. What are we going to do?”

They had just rounded a corner and were right in front of the drawing room’s doors when Miroku forced Inuyasha to stop. The look in the duke’s eyes were chilling.

“What we’re going to do? I’ll tell you what I’m going to do; I’m getting married, that’s what,”

The marquis was so shocked his jaws dropped open.

“Then the rumors aren’t true? Kikyou is here and she’s going to marry you? Are you telling me—“

It was now Miroku’s turn to have that chilling look in his eyes.

“Is Miss Woodbine the woman Montmouth forced to marry him?”

Too tired for explanations, Inuyasha grabbed Miroku by the collar and took him inside. There the King waited with a most pleased look upon his face. The marquis only hoped he could say the same for his friend.

“Ahh, Lord Stilles! Have you come to give Lord Grey your felicitations?”

The marquis would have genuflected in front of his king if it weren’t for Inuyasha still holding him by his collar. He could barely even manage to breathe. King Sesshomaru took pity on him.

“Put him down, Inuyasha. You’re choking him to death. This is a joyous occasion, not a reason to kill somebody, for God’s sake,”

Inuyasha unceremoniously deposited his friend to a nearby chair and dared to glare at his king as though saying ‘I-beg-to-differ’, but remained quiet otherwise. The King only smiled wider at that and watched as the marquis adjusted his collar in order to breathe properly.

“What has gotten into him, Your Majesty?”

That came out as a wheeze. The King was amused even more.

“Forgive your friend, Miroku. He’s just… shall we say, overwhelmed with joy?”

Miroku didn’t understand a word of it. Overwhelmed with joy? Daring a look at his friend’s face, he’d have to say the opposite. But thinking wisely of it, he chose to keep silent.

The King was pouring wine into three goblets. A rare occasion indeed, as he never usually bothered serving himself, let alone others. He handed two of the goblets to them.

“I propose a toast—to my good friend, Inuyasha. And to the future Duchess of Windshire. May you both be blessed with more wealth, good life and good health. And of course, a houseful of children,”

The King jovially patted the duke on his back.

“So you really are getting married! I thought you were only jesting,”

Miroku said before he downed the contents of his glass.

“Do I look like I’m jesting, Miroku? Not bloody likely,”

Before the marquis could launch a rebuttal, the king clapped his hands.

“Enough. We only have time for one toast. I assume the ladies are waiting and the priest as well. Your appearance is most welcome indeed, Lord Stilles. Will you stand as one of the witnesses?”

“Of course, Your Highness. I would be honored. I wouldn’t miss this wedding for anything,”

He turned to his best friend.

“I guess this means you’re going to say goodbye to one of your titles,”

Miroku said. But although the tone was serious, his eyes were twinkling. That puzzled Inuyasha even more.

“I get to keep all of my titles, Miroku. Which title are you referring to?”

“Why, it’s your ‘most-sought-out-bachelor-of-the-century title! Think of how many mothers will rant and rave because they didn’t get to snag you first for their daughters. Not to mention how many ladies are going to cry their hearts out when they hear you got married. And the lot of them are going to want to rip your wife apart for marrying you, you know. You’d best warn her now, Inuyasha. Kikyou is a very lucky woman indeed. Although I have to say you’re luckier to have her,”

Miroku ended the banter in a serious note, really hoping for his friend’s happiness. Imagine his surprise at having Inuyasha look at him sharply and pin him with angry amber eyes.

“Who said I was going to marry Kikyou?”

“What? You’re not going to marry Lady Winters? When you said you were getting married, I naturally assumed—“

Inuyasha cut him off.

“Well you assumed wrong, Miroku. As I have been,”

The King ordered them to their feet.

“We have no time for this. The suspense would have to wait, Miroku. It will end at the wedding. You’ll get to see Inuyasha’s bride there. Now let’s be off for the ceremony,”

With that command, the King strode towards the door, leaving his two subjects to walk behind him. The guard at the door closed the door for them.

The wedding was on.


=============================================


The wedding was set at the Queen’s very own private gardens. It was a magnificent sight indeed, what with the sunset just happening. The priest, the marquis and the groom waited at the gazebo for the bride. Inuyasha looked very dashing in his all-black ensemble, with the exception of his snow-white undershirt. Luckily, he had the time to change before the ceremony began. And although it was portrayed as though he was in mourning, it had the opposite effect.

Now here comes the bride.

The royal couple walked ahead of her. They were all smiles, even though the Queen kept dabbing at her eyes with her lace cloth. The King just rolled his eyes at his wife’s antics and endured it magnanimously. Finally, they walked over to the side and gave an unobstructed view of the bride.

She wore a gown of pure white, made of the finest silk and delicate lace. It had no sleeves, and had a small train at the back. The square neckline revealed the tops of her full, creamy breasts to his hungry gaze. The fitted bodice of the gown accentuated her slender figure and a Spanish mantilla graced the top of her coiffure.

The groom noticed her hands shook so violently that she’d already ruined the bouquet of roses the queen especially ordered to be picked from her rose garden. He thought it was from nervousness and fear, but then he caught the flashes of fire in her eyes and had to stop to keep himself from smiling.

His bride was completely unafraid of him. It was a warming thought.

Inuyasha thought his heart skipped a beat when he saw her. Even the priest could not conceal his sigh of admiration. She took their breath away.

Literally.

But it was his friend’s reaction that bemused Inuyasha the most. Miroku let out a low whistle first, albeit a little hushed. He was about to cuff him when the whistle turned into a loud gasp. And then Miroku choked.

Exasperated, Inuyasha turned around to look at his friend. The sight managed to improve his mood a bit. Miroku’s eyes were bulging, his mouth formed in one perfect ‘O’. He was clutching at Inuyasha’s sleeve as if he was seeing a ghost. And his eyes appeared to be permanently glued to the bride.

That one Inuyasha didn’t like one bit.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?”

He asked his friend, trying to remove the hand that was pulling his sleeve down away from him. He forgot the priest was with them. It was the priest’s chiding cough that reminded him. He could care less about his manners though. He wanted to get to the bottom of his friend’s peculiar actions first.

Miroku finally managed to calm himself enough not to disgrace his self further. He let go of Inuyasha’s sleeves, squared his shoulders and stood to his full height as he directly looked in his friend’s eyes.

“You’re marrying Kagome—I mean, Miss Woodbine?”

Inuyasha started to count to ten in his head. Miroku was very close to riling him. His apparent familiarity with his minutes-away-soon-to-be-wife was grating on his nerves.

“Yes. Got any problems with that?”

He challenged, expecting Miroku to back out. No one was that foolish to oppose him.

No one.

“Why?”

He started counting to one hundred, just in case he started bashing his friend’s face in. With a fierce scowl set on his handsome face, Inuyasha turned, fully intending to lash out at the marquess for the impertinent question when a calm voice stopped him.

“Your Grace?”

He turned around to face his waiting bride and all the fight seemed to have drained out of him just by looking at her. Besides, he didn’t really think she’d appreciate him blackening Miroku’s eye. Nor would the king, for that matter.

This was, after all, their wedding.

“We’ll discuss this later, Miroku. My bride is waiting,”

He said curtly to his friend before claiming his bride’s cold hand in his and then they stood before the priest to start the ceremony.

It started pleasantly enough, with Inuyasha repeating his wedding vows in a deep and sure voice while constantly looking into his bride’s eyes and keeping her hand in his.

He allowed for no retreat, no escape. Or so it seemed to Kagome. And the panic built up inside her, until she didn’t know whether to be sick or to swoon.

And then it was her turn. The words ‘love, honor, serve and obey’ were mentioned. She held out the hand that was holding her now non-existent roses to stop the priest’s monologue.

They were all staring at her expectantly now, with the exception of her groom’s dark gaze fastening on her wild and panic-filled eyes. He started to pull her towards him.

“Kagome—“

“No!”

She tried to wrench her hand away from him, but he only held it tighter and in a sudden movement, he had her in his arms. She was shivering violently and he held her, while the animated onlookers were hanging onto their every word.

“Is this wedding going to continue, Your Majesty?”

“It better be. Do something, Inuyasha,”

“Oh, leave them alone for a moment. I think Kagome still has her wedding jitters after all,”

“Are you changing your mind, Kagome?”

The indecent question came of course from Miroku. Inuyasha whipped his head around to pin his friend with a hard look. Miroku glared back insolently. Tension could be felt taut in the air, and it wouldn’t have been surprising if currents of electricity could be seen.

Before Kagome could nod yes, she felt Inuyasha’s hand spasm against her and he answered for her.

“It’s Lady Grey to you, Miroku. And no, she’s not changing her mind. Not now, not ever. Do you understand, Miroku? You cannot challenge me in this,”

Inuyasha stated in a hard, menacing and downright mean tone of voice, his eyes shooting amber fire at Miroku while still holding Kagome immobile.

His friend glared right back.

“I’m still waiting for the bride’s answer. Well Kagome?”

All eyes were turned on her now. She didn’t look up, nor could she seem to stop shaking enough to answer them.

The King took charge.

“This is nonsense, Miroku. You cannot challenge Inuyasha; I forbid it. And I am blessing this union, if you’ll remember,”

“Your king is right, sir. Besides, those two belong together! Look at them. Can’t you tell?”

Miroku leveled a disbelieving look at the Queen, though he refrained from commenting on that. Instead, he turned to the priest.

“Indulge me on my curiosity, Father. Is this union going to be considered binding if the bride is not willing?”

The priest gulped down and visibly began to perspire, wishing he was somewhere else. He knew he was damned if he said yes, and equally damned if he said nay.

He cleared his throat before he answered.

“Even though a marriage is arranged, it will still be considered legal and binding with the church’s blessing. And the King’s, of course,”

The priest hastily added to the satisfaction of the King. His wife nodded in emphasis to the holy man’s words.

“However, I will have to hear the bride’s agreement before I bless this union and proclaim the couple as man and wife,”

The priest’s words rushed out before he lost his courage. The King had a murderous look on his face now, the Queen looked dismayed and Miroku now branded a smug smile as he turned to Inuyasha and Kagome. The poor priest looked ready to faint.

“Will you explain this to me very thoroughly, Father, before I do something that is sure to remove me from God’s grace?”

King Sesshomaru said ominously while taking a step towards the priest. The priest stepped back hastily in reaction. The Queen took pity on him and laid a hand on her husband’s arm.

“You’re scaring the poor man out of his wits, My Lord. That will not do. Who will preside over this wedding if he faints?”

The look on the King’s face turned from apoplectic to flabbergasted in the blink of an eye. He looked at his wife as he struggled to keep his calm.

“You’re worried about who’s going to preside over the wedding when it’s quite clear that even if he doesn’t faint he won’t marry them? Honest to God, Elizabeth Rin, but you can really drive a man to drink himself to a stupor with your mind!”

“I’ll thank you not to insult me, husband. And do take a deep breath. Your voice is quite hoarse. Leave this to me,”

After issuing her orders to her husband, she patted his arm and looked at the priest.

“Father,”

She called out.

“I’m sure you did not mean to contradict my husband. And I’m also quite sure there’s an alternative to the predicament we find ourselves in. Do you need to hear Miss Woodbine’s declaration that she’s wholeheartedly willing to be Lord Grey’s wife, or do you just need to hear her say ‘I do’?”

The priest quit shaking in his robes.

“I’ll accept her ‘I do’s’, Your Majesty,”

The Queen beamed at the priest.

“There, you see? Kagome has just got to say I do. Inuyasha, dear? The sunset’s nearly gone,”

The duke continued to hold his still shaking bride-to-be while exchanging death glares with his friend.

“Miss Woodbine needn’t be forced into this marriage, Your Majesties. I am perfectly willing to take Inuyasha’s place as her husband,”

“The hell you will!”

No one was shocked more by Miroku’s declaration than Kagome. She never expected that he was planning on offering for her hand in marriage.

“Are you serious, Lord Stilles?”

“It doesn’t matter if he’s serious or not! Kagome is my bride. Mine,”

Miroku ignored Inuyasha’s outburst and appealed to the King.

“I ask that you postpone this wedding, Your Highness. Please take my offer into consideration and you will see that marriage to me would be more agreeable to the lady,”

The King regarded Miroku thoughtfully for a moment before answering.

“Very well. But it will not be for Kagome to decide. The matter will be resolved by a duel,”

“What? But My Lord! These two are old friends! You cannot ask friends to just shoot each other,”

The King’s eyes never left Kagome all the while.

“But I can, my dear. I am king, remember? And I’ll give no special considerations for this duel. If you want to shoot for the kill then you may do so, gentlemen,”

The King even patted the Queen’s hand for comfort.

“Sesshomaru Stephen Stuart! Have you taken leave of your senses?”

The King gripped his wife’s hand to silence her.

“Thank you, Your Highness. Lord Grey, Duke of Windshire, I challenge you to a duel for Miss Woodbine’s hand in marriage,”

Amber eyes burning in fury, Inuyasha smiled at his friend.

Or rather, bared his teeth.

“It will be my pleasure to kill you, Miroku,”

“Wait!”

Kagome went out of her shocked stupor just in time. She struggled against Inuyasha’s chest in a bid to let him free her. But he would not budge.

“There will be no duel. Are you both out of your minds? You’re friends, for God’s sake! Friends don’t kill each other!”

She almost ran her fingers through her hair in agitation, but remembered it was not left unbound.

“I’ve changed my mind, Your Highness,”

“You have? Then you’ll marry Miroku now?”

“I told you she’d prefer me,”

“The hell you will, Kagome! Damn it, have you forgotten about last night?”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple, Kagome. The duel has already been issued out. I’m not changing my mind over this,”

“Is there going to be a wedding today or not?”

Kagome felt like screaming at the top of her lungs at everyone. They were making her daft.

“Please, Your Highness. I will agree to the marriage between me and Lord Grey. There is no need for the duel to continue,”

“Kagome, there’s no need to—“

She cut Miroku off.

“There is every need, my lord. As much as I am fond of you, a marriage between us would be wrong. You will not get the bride that you deserve if you marry me,”

“But—“

“No more buts, Miroku. The bride has agreed. Continue with the ceremony, Father,”

Kagome repeated her vows this time while still being held in Inuyasha’s arms. He refused to let her go and made sure Miroku was far away from her. He then slipped a heavy gold ring on her finger.

In her mind, Kagome qualified her vows.

‘I do promise to honor him. He is going to be my husband, after all. And I promise to try and love him before I am an old woman (although that’s highly impossible) or even when I’m at my deathbed. And I promise to obey him only when I think its’ right. At least I’m not lying to God,’

Concurrently, Inuyasha was already planning what he was going to do with his brand new bride.

‘I’m going to take her away from here and when we’re at my castle, I’ll just lock her in the tower room and forget about her. The spitfire isn’t worth the bother. Besides, I have a score to settle,’

The priest made the sign of the cross in the air with his hand. It was finished.

“You may now kiss the bride,”

~*~Evil cliffy isn't it? *insert evil laugh here* Well what can I say? I love cliffies. hehehe. So what did you guys think? Too long? Too out of this world? ^_^ Leave me a note on the reviews section, you guys. Take care everyone. Ja ne!~*~