The Wedding of the New Moon and the Red Thread of Fate

Chapter 3

Men never show their tears no matter what, so don't even think about starting to cry now! A voice in his head strictly ordered, but it was already too late. As he grew closer and closer to transforming yet again, tears clouded his vision. But InuYasha just wasn't about to let a single one of them fall, he was stronger than that! At least that's what he'd thought until now. Even in human form he'd kept himself from crying all these years, so why now? When did he become so sensitive? So emotional? Was it because of Kagome? Was she the one responsible for the change in his heart?

"It's okay to cry, honey..."

InuYasha completely froze. She actually noticed?! His face grew hotter in frustration as he looked everywhere else than in Mrs. Higurashi's direction. She was more observant than InuYasha had first thought. Then again, his tears couldn't be that hard to miss, as he didn't make a habit of crying. Especially not about something like this. Knowing that his mother-in-law had seen him so close to shedding tears, he felt ashamed of himself.

"...Keh! What makes ya think I'm cryin'?" InuYasha muttered, wiping tears that had yet to fall down his cheeks. But Mrs. Higurashi never answered his question. Instead, she simply flashed him a gentle smile which closely resembled the way Kagome would always smile at him... "This might sound silly, but I believe that everyone is fated to meet the one they're truly meant to be with one day... Personally, I believe it was the day you asked Kagome to marry you that you finally realized that she was the one for you..." Mrs. Higurashi paused, sighing happily as her eyes were fixed on InuYasha.

"Are you familiar with the legend about the red thread of fate?" Finally meeting the woman's gaze, InuYasha lightly nodded his head, his face showing several signs of recognition. "Yeah, I am... My mother used to tell me about it a long time ago..." Thinking back to the exact words Izayoi had used to describe this particular legend, there was a certain phrase that stood out to him: Destined lovers, regardless of place, time or circumstances. As a child, he had thought it was merely a legend, but considering all that had happened ever since his first meeting with Kagome, he was starting to have second thoughts about the mysterious legend.

"I always believed that in order to find my place in this world, I had to become stronger...There was no place for me, so I had to make one for myself. But then I realized. I had a place, but I was the only one in it. I didn't know any other way to live...I never thought that anyone except my mother would love me, unconditionally love me. And then I met Kagome. She didn't want me to be different...She wanted me to be happy...but more importantly she wanted to stay by my side. And in return, I promised to protect her with my life. To make her happy..." There was more he wanted to express, but he never got the chance to because Mrs. Higurashi started applauding, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"My, that was beautiful! Those words would make for excellent marriage vows, InuYasha!" she exclaimed joyfully, folding her hands together as if she were praying. No way... InuYasha thought, quickly shaking his head. There's no way I can tell her all of that when total strangers are watching us... If anyone were to overhear him, it would reveal too much about him than what was to his liking. It would serve no purpose to tell Kagome again because he'd already told her something similar before. But without vows, what else could he do?

While in the midst of his thinking process, his body started to pulsate for a second as his claws became shorter and shorter, resembling fingernails of ordinary lenght. His hair gradually changed color from a sleek silver to jet black. His sensitive dog ears felt like they shrank to microscopic size until they disappeared from plain sight as human ears appeared on either side of his face, almost hidden beneath his thick hair. The golden color of his eyes was once again replaced by a much darker color.