Ikarana's Adventure
By: midnightsunfish
Disclaimer: I do not own any Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho characters. Also some characters can be a bit on the extreme side of who they naturally are. SesshomaruXoc.
Time: set when inuyasha was still a young pup.
"Princess Ikarana! Forgive the intrusion but you have received a message from our western allies!" said Ikarana's handmaid.
"Come in Mitsuko. You may go now and take the rest of the day off. I shall not be needing you." Said the princess as she smiled at her hand maid.
"Thank you princess you are most generous!" Mitsuko said as she bowed and left the room.
Ikarana's curiosity peaked as she turned the message over in her hands and saw that it was indeed from the western lands.
Ikarana was pleasantly surprised to find that she had been invited to the western land's annual youkai ball/gathering.
'Hmmm perhaps it is time to check upon how the bonds between the western lands and my own lands fare. I cannot let them know that I am under a disguise. If they know that I am the princess then they will lie to me. I know! I shall dress myself as my handmaid!' Ikarana thought to herself.
Ikarana quickly got some parchment and a small quill out and wrote a reply.
"My Lord and Lady,
I am deeply honored that you would invite me. However, due to some problems with my lands I, myself cannot attend. In my stead I will be sending my handmaid ika for me with my prized mare illiana. Forgive me for not attending my self.
My best wishes to you and your family,
Princess Ikarana."
Ikarana nodded to herself as she sealed the envelope and summoned a servant.
"you called for me my lady?what would you have me do?" asked the servant as he bowed.
"yes thank you for coming so quickly. Send this message to the western lands and have my horse prepared for travel. Also have a maid pack clothes for me. Enough for an extended stay." Said ikarana.
"it shall be as you say princess." And with that the servant bowed and walked out of the room.
"this is going to be very interesting." The princess said to herself as she got into bed for the night.
The next day ikarana dressed herself in a pale pink gown and walked to the stables with servants carrying her luggage behind her. She smiled as she walked around the corner to see herescorts and illiana waiting for her.
As ikarana got closer illiana lifted her head and nickered a greeting.
"hello to you as well my lovely illiana. Get ready for an eventful trip my love. Many things are going to happen and I have a good feeling about this." Ikarana said as she patted the mares nose. As soon as she mounted they were off at a trot toward the western lands.
'It shouldn't be a very long trip should only take a few days at the most.' Ikarana said to herself.
Luckily for the princess the patrols on the road had been increased and she crossed into the western lands with only a few mishaps. Ikarana felt butterflies arise in her stomach as one of her guards rode ahead to warn the royal family of her approach.
Because Ikarana felt she must make a good impression she straightened her clothes out and urged her mare into a collected lope. She schooled her face into a pleasant smile to hide the sheer amounts of nervouseness she was feeling as she approached the western family.
Inutaisho in all his glory stood next to princess izayoi who held their pup inuyasha as sesshomaru stood next to inutaisho. Ikarana pulled her horse to a stop infront of the family and dismounted. She bowed and said,
" My princess wished me to extend her gratitude for your invitation and wishes also to to say how sorry she is for not being able to attend herself."
Princess izayoi smiled and bowed her head and said "you are welcome here ika. As you are attending in the princess' stead you shall receive the same suites she was to receive."
"I am most grateful for your hospitality my lords and lady." Ikarana said as her horse was lead away by a stable servant.
"as my lovely wife said you are welcome here ika. We will have a servant show you to your rooms. You have a few days to relax as the rest of the guests come in. in the mean time, please feel free to explore the grounds and gardens." Said inutaisho as he smiled.
Ikarana smiled and said "you are most generous my lord thankyou."
Ikarana couldn't help it as she looked around the castle with wide eyes as she was led to her rooms. The hallways and stairs were carpeted with a lush red carpet and all of the walls and floors were made of white marble and had a few candelabras and paintings every few feet.
'this place is amazing. I should take a few of their decorating ideas with me back to my palace.' Thought ikarana.
"here are your suites my lady. Please let one of the servants know if you should happen to require anything."said the servant as she turned and walked out of the room.
Ikarana nodded and walked into the rooms and let the doors click shut behind her. She let out a small gasp as she took in her room. The carpet was a lush green and the walls were the same color with silver trimming and a few silver candelabras around the room. All of the furniture was a gorgeous handcrafted dark cherry wood and her bed was an extra large four poster.
Ikarana couldn't resist as she let out a girlish squeal and took a running jump onto her bed.
"this is amazing!" she said to herself as she rolled around on the bed. Since the day was still young she decided that she would take a ride on illiana for awhile. She walked out of the castle and into the stables and as she entered the stables illiana nickered a greeting to her through a mouthful of hay.
"illiana you musn't do that! You could choke!" she said with a chuckle as she entered the stall. As she saddled and tacked illiana she reflected on the days events.
'the royal family seems to be doing very well with their kingdom. I know from my father that inutaisho is a strong and powerful leader but is also fair to his subjects. His mate, princess izayoi, is wonderful and also seems to be doing very well. He also said that lord sesshomaru is going to be looking for a mate, he's awfully handsome so he should have no problem finding one. Gah! What am I thinking? Lord sesshomaru doesn't even know that I am the princess, even if her did he wouldn't be interested in me.' Ikarana said to herself.
Before she knew it she had illiana tacked up and she didn't realize it until illiana nudged her with her nose. She shook her head andmounted hading to the jumping arena for some practice. She looked around and saw only a few servants milling about doing their chores and then she entered the arena. Ikarana had just finished her warm ups when she same some jumps set up in the middle of the arena.
"what do you say illiana? Should we go for it?" asked ikarana.
Illiana threw her head into the air and gave an excited whinny as her broke into a fast lope and saild over the first jump. Ikarana was focusing on what she was doing so much she didn't notice when the royal family walked into the arena. As illiana sailed over the last jump and landed with a muted thump, she heard a polite clapping.
Ikarana pulled illiana to a stop and looked over to see the royal family clapping.
"well done!" boomed inutaisho as ikarana led illiana over to them.
"would my lady like a ride?" ikarana asked izayoi.
"if she isn't too tired. I don't want to overtax the poor thing."said izayoi as she handed inutaisho the baby and mounted.
"one of her good traits my lady is that illiana was bred for stamina among other things." Said ikarana as she led them around the arena.
"This is a lippizzan correct?"asked inutaisho.
"yes my lord. My-er- the princess' finest horse." Ikarana said as she inwardly grimaced hoping that no one caught her slip up.
Unbeknownst to her sesshomaru heard her hesitation and his eyes narrowed dangerously. 'so this girl is not who she said she is. This sesshomaru will find out.'
A few days after her ride in the arena, she was summoned to inutaisho's study.
'oh no! they found me out!' ikarana thought as she straightened up and and knocked on the study door.
"enter" came inutaisho's cold voice.
'uh oh im in deep trouble' ikarana thought as she walked into the room with her head bowed.
"my son, sesshomaru, has told me something rather disconcerting. He claims that you are not who you claim to be." Inutaisho said as his liquid amber eyes narrowed and burned with a quiet anger.
"your son is correct my lord. I am not who you think I am. I disguised myself in order to check on our alliance without anyone knowing for fear that I would receive nothing but lies if my true identity were known." Ikarana said as she kept her head down.
"our alliance? Who are you?" asked inutaisho with a gently yet firm voice.
"my name is Princess Ikarana hitomi Alexandra, my lord." She said as she bowed her head once more.
" I know I should have been truthful from the start but for the reasons I just stated i kept it a secret and gave you a false name. I know it was wrong to do and I beg for your forgiveness as well as your family's forgiveness." Ikarana said as she kept her head down "I will accept any punishment you choose to give me."
'Honorable. She knows her place well." Thought inutaisho. "not only did you tell me the complete truth you owned up to your mistake and was prepared to accept the full consequences for your actions. That shows me that you have great honor. Since you have done this you will receive no punishment and you will still be allowed to participate in the gathering. You may go now." Said inutaisho.
"thankyou my lord! This will never happen again I swear!" said ikarana as she bowed and left feeling a great weight lifted off of her shoulders. Of course since she wasn't watching where she was going she ran right into sesshomaru's chest.
"my lord! Please forgive me I wasn't watching where I was going." Said ikarana as sesshomaru helped her up. "my lord, might I speak with you privately?"
"this sesshomaru will allow it. Come we will talk in the gardens." Sesshomaru said with an icy tone in his voice.
Ikarana knew if she was going to get back on the family's good side she had to be completely sincere. So she followed a few steps behind him in order to observe him. One thing that immediately stood out in her mind was his long silver hair and his untamed yet somehow reserved molten gold eyes. He walked with an air of, not arrogance, but of proudness. He was sure of himself that's for sure.
She was snapped out of her reveriewhen she almost ran into sesshomaru's back. Looking up she realized that they were in an extensive rose garden filled with all different sizes and colors of roses.
"this is my private rose one else besides you and I has ever laid eyes on this. We will be able to talk privately in here." Said sesshomaru as he turned to face her.
"thankyou for bringing me here my lord. I am honored that you chose to let me see this. Any way, I had wanted to apologize personally for deceiving you and your family. 'Twas not my intention to cause this whole mess. By disguising who I truly was I thought I could check upon the strength of our alliance. I see now that the disguise was not necessary. Please forgive me." She said as she bowed low to sesshomaru and waited for his answer.