Shotgun Wedding: Part VI
By Emania

A/N: I bet y'all love it when I just post it all up in one bout like this, huh? Well, don't get used to it. The only reason I did it this time is because I wanted to write it all out before I posted it cause it's a Kiriban gift, so nyah! LOL. Anyway, this is it, the last piece.

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Except for Pinky, Green, the Elder (very creative names, ne?) and Hikari. I made them up. And the basic plot idea came from, as I said above, Lavern & Shirley and Happy Days creators and writers, which I don't know who they are.

Summary: How far will the girls go to get their guys out of trouble? All the way up to the altar!

Shotgun Wedding
"I'm sure sometimes on the sly you do it
Maybe even you and I might do it
Let's do it…
Let's fall in love!"
- Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love), Cole Porter

Part VI

"I wanted to get you apart from the rest of the group for a moment for another reason than just so you can change," Hikari admitted.

"Oh?" Kagome asked, raising an eyebrow and sharing a look with Sango as they changed.

"Yes," Hikari answered. "You were so kind, and the when I was thinking of what I would give you as a present, it suddenly came to me…" She reached into a small trunk and took out a small box.

Kagome felt the pulse of the Shikon and knew with absolute certainty that the shard was inside.

"Hikari-chan…" Kagome breathed as the girl approached her with the intricate small box.

"I immediately thought of this when I thought of my gift for you two," Hikari admitted, opening the box. "I didn't want to give it to you in front of everyone, because I didn't want people to know that I had it at all…but…" she removed a small chain with a dangling purplish stone hanging from it. It wasn't the Shikon, and Kagome bit her lip. The shikon was inside that box, she had no doubt, and if Hikari was going to give them this stone, she would have to ask for the shikon. Hikari handed it to Sango. "A monk gave me this stone one day in the market in town…" Hikari told her. "Please accept it as my congratulatory gift?"

Sango knew she couldn't refuse or risk offending the girl, but it really was too much. "Hikari-chan, you needn't give something so precious!" she couldn't help but protest.

"It is the only thing I have suitable for your kindness and to match my wish for your happiness, Sango-sama."

Sango allowed Hikari to place it on her palms, and she bowed. "I shall treasure it," she told her sincerely. "Arigato, Hikari-chan," she told her.

Hikari blushed and turned to Kagome, reaching back in the box. "And this, Kagome-sama, spoke your name to me…" she removed the shikon shard. "A Priestess gave it to me when she passed through market last month," she told her as Kagome stared in awe at the pure brilliance of a purified shikon shard. "I protested that I wasn't worthy of keeping it, that I knew it didn't belong to me, and she told me that I would meet the person that it did belong to and that she entrusted me to give it to her when I found her, so…" Hikari laid it gently in Kagome's palm. "I give it to you, Kagome-sama…"

"Hikari-chan," Kagome breathed. "Do you realize how rare it is that you can hold this shard and have it remain in that color?" she asked.

Hikari shook her head. "I know the shard is rare…"

Kagome nodded. "It is…but you are also rare, Hikari-chan…" she told her sincerely. "Please, have you considered training to become a priestess?"

"Me?" Hikari asked, awed.

Kagome nodded. "You have a purity of heart," she told her. "or the jewel would not have remained such in your possession…please…"Kagome hugged Hikari impulsively. "Do not ever change that…"

When Kagome let her go, Hikari was blushing and smiling. "I swear it…" she blushed even brighter. "…o…oneesan…" she said shyly.

Kagome grinned widely. "Shall we go?" she asked Sango.

Sango nodded, and taking their bundled kimonos, walked out of Hikari's hut, waving.

"Ready?" Inuyasha asked, taking the kimonos and placing them inside the bag he carried.

"Ready," Kagome answered.

"Then shall we be off?" the monk asked as he approached.

The four friends nodded and started walking away.

"Goodbye, Kagome oneesan!" Hikari exclaimed. "Sango oneesan!" Sango and Kagome looked back to find her waving, so they waved as well and then walked back into the woods surrounding the village and into the path.

When they had walked a few moments in silence and were a good distance away from the village, Kagome neared Inuyasha. "I've got a surprise," she whispered.

"Yeah?" Inuyasha asked, unsure how to take her tone.

"I got the jewel shard," she whispered proudly.

"What!" Inuyasha exclaimed, almost tripping in his surprise. That was certainly not what he was expecting. Not that it wasn't welcome, just…not what he had been expecting. "Are you serious?"

Kagome nodded, clearly pleased. "Hikari had it."

"Who?" Inuyasha asked.

Kagome sighed. "The girl who said goodbye at the end. She gave it to me as a wedding present."

Miroku laughed, coming up alongside them, Sango obviously having told him the news. "Just goes to show that there are some shards we are just meant to have," he said.

Inuyasha shook his head. "That was a surprise," he mumbled under his breath.

Kagome laughed but stopped when suddenly the monk was next to them.

"I've got a surprise, too," the monk announced, clearly involving himself into their conversation.

"Oh, yes?" Kagome asked, trying to hide her surprise.

The monk stopped on the path before them, facing them and extending his arms to his sides. With a pop and a puff of smoke, the monk disappeared, only to be replaced by a much smaller, plumper Tanuki with a tail. "Ta-DAA!" he announced.

"HACHI!" the group exclaimed in unison.

He grinned and nodded. "Hachi did good, eh, Miroku-dono?" he asked proudly.

Kagome's knees gave out under her and she dropped to the ground with a very unladylike plop. Sango looked as if she were about to topple over herself and by the way that Inuyasha's eye was twitching nobody thought he would keep the cap on his temper for very much longer.

"Eh…"Hachi hedged, sensing the dark mood. "What's wrong?" he asked innocently. "As soon as Shippou found Hachi, Hachi went in and got you out of a bad situation! We even got a good dinner and presents out of it!" Hachi looked to Miroku whose head was lowered and whose shoulders were shaking in barely repressed anger. "Miroku-dono?" he questioned. His ears drooped. "Should Hachi start running now?" he asked on a pitiful whine.

Slowly, Miroku's head rose and at first, all that could be heard was the sound of repressed chuckles, but as Miroku's eyes found Hachi's scared face, he could no longer hold it back and soon he was tearing up and laughing aloud in loud guffaws.

The eyes of his friends found his in surprised, shocked, awe. "Hoshi-sama?" Sango asked.

Miroku shook his head and tried to control himself. "Let's…" he gasped. "Eat!" he finished quoting Hachi, arms out raised. "I should've…guessed…at…that…point!" Miroku tried valiantly to control his laughter, but failing, shook his head apologetically instead and doubled over, holding his stomach.

Kagome broke first…a snort of laughter escaping her throat before she could help it. Surprised, she put her hands to her mouth and shook her head, chuckling. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "But I'm just remembering…" she broke up in laughter again…"Pinky's face…" Kagome gasped between laughter.

Sango started to chuckle next. "As you pushed her face in the…" she broke off in a fit of giggles.

"...RIVER!" Kagome and Sango burst in unison followed by loud guffaws.

Finally, Inuyasha couldn't hold himself back any longer as he watched his friends holding their stomachs and rolled over in uncontrollable laughter. He pictured the look of drowned rat on the wench when Kagome threatened to tear her arm off if she touched his ears and he too was laughing like a madman. "…beat….bloody…end…" he gasped to which his friends all exploded in another fit of laughter.

"Aw, man," Shippou moaned as he approached them on the road. "I knew I was going to miss something good!"

Which, of course, only brought on a new round of laughter from the almost newlyweds.

Final A/N: Okay, that's it. I keep thinking that this is really too silly to even bother posting, especially since I didn't give it too much thought as I wrote it, so if you are of that opinion as well, then bows, my deepest apologies and I swear not to do too many of these a year and to always warn you before hand when I do;) Anyway, if any of you out there think it has any redeeming qualities, then please let me know, k?

And Lilac…I still say that if you wish to say you want your Kiriban request back and ask for something else, you can…