Clash of Alphas by sarhea

Red's Gemstone Challenge - Ruby

Prompt: Red’s Gemstone Challenge on Dokuga.com Forums – Ruby

AN:  Don't worry, Ayame's not silly enough to up against Sesshoumaru.

~ooO Worth More than Rubies Ooo~

Eri did not mean to eavesdrop. It was just impossible to not hear the red-headed lady wearing a tight black dress with the very un-PC white fur collar.

“It’s impossible. There’s no way those rubies are real.”

Yuka’s mother looked baffled and affronted. “Are you saying Nishimoto Sesshoumaru cannot afford to buy real gems for his wife?”

The red-head’s eyes were very wide and innocent looking. Eri immediately did not trust her.

“Oh no, I didn’t mean anything like that!”

Tomoshi-san looked calmer. “Then why are you saying such a thing?”

The red-head shrugged. “This wedding was rather rushed wasn’t it? How much notice did you get in your invitation?”

Tomoshi-san calmed. “Not a lot. But Yuka told me they’ve been engaged for a while!”

“Oh they were!” The red-head assured Tomoshi-san. “It’s just the wedding that was rushed. And I’m not speculating why.” And Eri could easily read between the lines, to what was being implied: Kagome was pregnant and they were rushing to avoid a scandal. “It’s just that the tiara she’s wearing is too elaborate to be an off-the-shelf item. And it has so many large stones! It takes time to find so many matching stones for a large piece. The tiara is most definitely real gold, but the stones?” She gave a tiny shrug. “Probably fake.”

Eri was torn between the desire to go over there and smack the little bitch and stalking over to Kagome’s new husband and asking him if the tiara had real gems or artificial stones.

“Don’t listen to Ayame.”

She blinked and turned to look up at the man standing beside her. “What? Who?”

Shippo jerked his chin over towards the other red-head. It was odd, how they had the same colouring but otherwise looked nothing alike. “Ayame. She knows well enough that the gems are real. Sesshoumaru will never give something fake to Kagome. Ayame simply enjoys stirring up trouble.”

“But she does have a point,” Eri was troubled to say so. “Some of the stones in the tiara are so big they do look kind of fake.”

Shippo chuckled. “Sesshoumaru began collecting the rubies ages ago.”

“Eh? But he only met Kagome a year ago!”

He gave her an intent look. “Have you heard of the saying in the Bible?”

“What?”

“A virtuous woman is worth more than rubies. Because her love, support and presence fulfills her husband’s emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. Her virtue gives her great value, it makes her flawless and worthy of love and devotion.”

Eri was chastened. “No.”

“To Sesshoumaru Kagome is worth far more than rubies. If he didn’t feel like that he would have never committed to her.” Shippo smiled faintly and looked out across the dance floor to where the couple were holding court. “Do you know what they say about rubies? They bless the owner with health, happiness, wealth, luck in love, and success, they symbolize charity, wisdom, courage, confidence and stability… qualities that he sees in her.”

Eri followed his gaze and smiled herself. “She’s very lucky to have found him.”

“I’d say they were lucky because they found each other,” Shippo corrected.

TBC...