Disclaimer: I have no claim on Inuyasha characters.
Author's Note: This is an alternate universe fic, however, I will strive to keep the OOC-ness as far down as possible!
"___" = Dialogue
'___' = Thoughts
~ # * # ~ = Passage of time
*___* = Special 'stuff'
Conflicting Desires
By Forsaken Tenshi
Prologue
Cool moonlight dimly illuminated the plush study of the Lord of the Western Lands. The moonlight fell on a man with scarlet accented, cold, calculating gold eyes roving over the midnight landscape. Silky platinum hair cascaded down the lord's back, pooling about him on the cushion he sat on. Pointed ears protruded from the silver strands. Two bold magenta stripes on each of the cheeks and a single, dark cerulean crescent moon on the center of the forehead contrasted sharply with the pale, ivory skin. Tucked over his right shoulder was a mass of white fur- his tail. He wore a white kimono accented with intricate crimson designs and a peculiar bone armor that protected his shoulders and chest. His identically striped, clawed hands rested lightly on the windowsill.
A knock sounded on the heavy oaken doors of the lord's study. A greenish toad-like organism with wide yellow eyes peered into the chamber. "Lord Sess-Sesshoumaru?" stuttered the creature.
The silver haired man turned his glittering amber eyes onto the servant. "What is it, Jaken?" he snapped, irritated because he'd been disturbed.
Jaken started. "Sesshoumaru-sama, I wa-wanted to ki-kindly remind you that sp-spring is almost h-here and-"
"I need to find another ningen girl. Hai, I _know_ that, Jaken!" spat Sesshoumaru. He turned back to the window. "We leave in the morning. Prepare my belongings."
"Mochiron, Master," Jaken replied, bowing and closing the door.
~ # * # ~
*In a small town*
"Kagome-chan, hold still!" rebuked a woman as she dressed a young girl in a silk kimono.
"Okaa-san!" the young priestess whined, "Why must _I_ do this?"
Kagome's mother sighed and dropped her head. Her hands grasped Kagome's, and the girl's mother gazed straight into Kagome's blue eyes. "Kagome- chan," she started, "I don't _want_ you to do this. Both you and I have seen what happens to those unfortunate girls chosen by the lord. I don't want that to happen to you. But he is coming, and commands that every unmarried girl between ages eighteen and twenty-one appear before him. I cannot disobey the lord. You know that."
Kagome frowned. She did indeed know what happened to girls chosen by the Lord of the Western Lands. She had traveled from another town with her mother, something that was dangerous. The demons that lived in the forest were ones not to be messed with. Few people traveled from town to town and survived.
Her thoughts on the Lord of the Western Lands drifted to a long repressed, bitter memory.
*Flashback*
"Chotto matte!" called a six-year-old Higurashi Kagome. She sprinted frantically after the retreating form of a graceful eighteen-year-old girl.
The brown haired teen stopped walking towards the village square and turned to face the child scurrying to catch up. She smiled, kneeled down, and held her arms out wide. Kagome leapt happily into her embrace. To Kagome, Ayume was the older sister she never had, and the same held true for Ayume, who cherished Kagome like she would a little sister.
"Kagome-chan, daijobu desu ka?" asked Ayume, stroking the girl's ebony hair.
"Hai, daijobu desu!" replied Kagome, smiling sweetly at the teen as she gazed into Ayume's viridian eyes with her own warm cerulean ones. "Onei- chan, where are you going?"
The teen sighed. "I have to go meet the Lord of the Western Lands, little one," she answered, "However, I do not really want to go."
"Doushite?" asked Kagome, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Ayume sighed. "If he picks me to go with him, I cannot see you for a year."
"A year?" Kagome echoed, perplexed.
"Hai, a year," replied the teen sadly.
Kagome thought a little. "Onei-chan," she called, "You will come back and see me, won't you?"
"Hai," responded the older girl, a smile gracing her lips. "I'll come see you right when I am able to."
"Promise?" A chubby pinky was extended in the air, waiting for the other girl's finger to link with her own.
"Promise." Their fingers linked, and Ayume gave Kagome a squeeze before she straightened up and continued towards the village square.
~ # * # ~
A year later. . .
"Ayume-chan!" called a seven-year-old Kagome.
The now nineteen-year-old brunette turned and eyed the ebony haired child dashing towards her. Ayume carried herself with what could be labeled as arrogance. She masked her face with make up, and dressed in an eye- catching array of colorful silks. Her hair was worn up elegantly and decorated with expensive ivory combs and the like.
Kagome reached Ayume and wrapped her arms around the teen's waist. "I missed you, onei-chan!" cried Kagome as tears of happiness trickled down her cheeks.
Ayume gently but firmly pried the younger girl off. "Onei-chan?" asked Kagome, perplexed.
"Iie. Don't call me that. I never was, and never will be your onei-chan," she rebuked, her face impassive. Yet her eyes were what disturbed Kagome the most. They were cold, hollow. . . uncaring. Without another word she spun and left a shocked and hurt Kagome.
"Onei-chan. . ." she whimpered, her tears of joy transforming into tears of grief. She fled to the arms of her mother.
Later, during the evening, Kagome strode solemnly, thoughtfully through a meadow on the edge of the village. Fireflies fluttered about blinking their lights, giving the field an enchanted look. Several of the creatures lit on the girl and decorated her light blue kimono with gentle pulses of light.
A coquettish giggle broke Kagome's thoughts, and in the darkening light, she could make out the faint outlines of Ayume and a man. They kissed intimately, whispering in a conspiring manner while giggling in each other's arms. The scene was to repeat itself many times, each time with a different man.
*End flashback*
Kagome shook her head. No. She didn't want to end up like Ayume. Ayume had been eventually killed by one of her lovers. Kagome wiped away a lone tear. She wasn't going to be chosen if she could help it! She loathed the Lord of the Western Lands for what he did to her friend, the older girl she had looked up to as the sister she never had. Her fiery spirit stirred within her, and it blazed brightly in her eyes. "I'll _make_ him chose another girl. I'll be rude and disrespectful," she muttered, fuming.
"Kagome-chan!" exclaimed her mother.
"I will! There is no way in the seven hells I will let him chose me!" snapped Kagome.
"Kagome!" called a rough masculine voice.
"Inuyasha!" cried Kagome happily, forgetting her loathing for the lord as her boyfriend poked his silver head into her room before stepping in. Clad in bright red with a string of prayer beads around his neck and an untransformed Tetsusaiga sheathed at his side, he looked a formidable opponent. His gold eyes darted to and fro, and his quivering nose never stopped scenting the winds. His long silver hair tumbled to his waist, and small white dog-ears protruded from beneath his mane. He wrinkled his nose at her dress. "Feh! What are you dressed up like _that_ for?" He leaned against the doorframe casually and folded his arms across his chest.
Kagome glared at the half-dog demon half-human. Sometimes she wondered why she liked him in the first place. She sighed. "The Lord of the Western Lands is coming, and I have to dress up like this," she grumbled.
Inuyasha snapped his head towards her. "Nani? You mean Sesshoumaru-sama?" he asked.
Kagome nodded her head reluctantly.
Inuyasha smirked. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you have a good chance of _not_ being picked," he commented haughtily.
Kagome tilted her head sideways, perplexed. "How?"
Her dog demon boyfriend twitched his ears in amusement. "Sesshoumaru-sama will probably think he is too _refined_ for the likes of you."
The silk clad girl raised an eyebrow skeptically. "And you would know this by. . .?"
Inuyasha suppressed a growl. "Let's just say I have my sources," he retorted, turning away and crossing his arms.
Kagome sighed and looked out a window towards the town square. Already a cluster of dressed up girls stood in a tight circle, gossiping and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the lord. Kagome rolled her eyes. 'They don't know what they're getting into,' she thought scornfully, 'Such ignorance.' She heaved a sigh.
"You're done, Kagome-chan," her mother replied. Kagome stepped off the small pedestal and studied herself in the full-length mirror. The light blue kimono with embroidered sakura blossoms was breathtaking. Her mother had done an excellent job sewing it.
"Arigatou, okaa-san," said Kagome, hugging her mother.
"Nandemonai, Kagome-chan," her mother replied, looking her over and beaming. Abruptly she left the room on the premise of looking for Souta, Kagome's little brother.
"You look. . . nice," Inuyasha commented gruffly after making sure Kagome's mother was out of hearing range.
Kagome quickly strode over to him and whacked him on the arm. "Is that _all_ you have to say?!? After all the hours okaa-san put into making this, you simply say, 'You look nice'?!?" she screeched.
"Maa, maa, I was joking! Really I was! You look wonderful, Kagome-san!" he said, hastily correcting himself. He gave her a warm squeeze. "Just be yourself, alright?" His brittle gold eyes softened as he looked into her warm coffee colored ones.
"Sure," she replied, before being silenced by a quick kiss.
Heartened by her boyfriend's words, Kagome stepped outside and waited for Lord Sesshoumaru's arrival.
~*~*~*~
Japanese Translations
Ningen- human
Hai- yes
Mochiron- of course
Okaa-san- mother
Youkai- demon
Chotto matte- wait
Daijobu desu ka?- are you all right?
Hai- yes
Daijobu desu- I am all right
Onei-chan- older sister
Doushite- why
Iie- no
Nani- what
Arigatou- thank you
Nandemonai- it's nothing
Maa, maa- now, now
~*~*~*~
FT: Konnichiwa, minna-san! This is my first Inuyasha ficcie, be critical; I want to make this a good story! Other characters will come into play later, perhaps even in the next chapter. . .
Kagome: Heh. . . I get to be all bitchy! ^_^
Inuyasha: Feh! You always were to begin with!
Kagome: Osuwari!
Inuyasha: *falls flat on his face and mumbles* Damn you, wench!
Sesshoumaru: *stares disdainfully at the both of them* I detest humans. *directs this statement at FT*
FT: Too bad! *glomps Sesshoumaru*
Sesshoumaru: *scowls*
FT: Sesshy-kun, you are one of _the_ most egotistical, chauvinistic males I've met, you know that?
Sesshoumaru: *frowns* That I did. Now will you get _off_ me?
FT: *grins happily* Iie. Irritable as well. . . *smirk* Review! Onegai? ^_^;;;
~*~*~*~
Author's Note: This is an alternate universe fic, however, I will strive to keep the OOC-ness as far down as possible!
"___" = Dialogue
'___' = Thoughts
~ # * # ~ = Passage of time
*___* = Special 'stuff'
Conflicting Desires
By Forsaken Tenshi
Prologue
Cool moonlight dimly illuminated the plush study of the Lord of the Western Lands. The moonlight fell on a man with scarlet accented, cold, calculating gold eyes roving over the midnight landscape. Silky platinum hair cascaded down the lord's back, pooling about him on the cushion he sat on. Pointed ears protruded from the silver strands. Two bold magenta stripes on each of the cheeks and a single, dark cerulean crescent moon on the center of the forehead contrasted sharply with the pale, ivory skin. Tucked over his right shoulder was a mass of white fur- his tail. He wore a white kimono accented with intricate crimson designs and a peculiar bone armor that protected his shoulders and chest. His identically striped, clawed hands rested lightly on the windowsill.
A knock sounded on the heavy oaken doors of the lord's study. A greenish toad-like organism with wide yellow eyes peered into the chamber. "Lord Sess-Sesshoumaru?" stuttered the creature.
The silver haired man turned his glittering amber eyes onto the servant. "What is it, Jaken?" he snapped, irritated because he'd been disturbed.
Jaken started. "Sesshoumaru-sama, I wa-wanted to ki-kindly remind you that sp-spring is almost h-here and-"
"I need to find another ningen girl. Hai, I _know_ that, Jaken!" spat Sesshoumaru. He turned back to the window. "We leave in the morning. Prepare my belongings."
"Mochiron, Master," Jaken replied, bowing and closing the door.
~ # * # ~
*In a small town*
"Kagome-chan, hold still!" rebuked a woman as she dressed a young girl in a silk kimono.
"Okaa-san!" the young priestess whined, "Why must _I_ do this?"
Kagome's mother sighed and dropped her head. Her hands grasped Kagome's, and the girl's mother gazed straight into Kagome's blue eyes. "Kagome- chan," she started, "I don't _want_ you to do this. Both you and I have seen what happens to those unfortunate girls chosen by the lord. I don't want that to happen to you. But he is coming, and commands that every unmarried girl between ages eighteen and twenty-one appear before him. I cannot disobey the lord. You know that."
Kagome frowned. She did indeed know what happened to girls chosen by the Lord of the Western Lands. She had traveled from another town with her mother, something that was dangerous. The demons that lived in the forest were ones not to be messed with. Few people traveled from town to town and survived.
Her thoughts on the Lord of the Western Lands drifted to a long repressed, bitter memory.
*Flashback*
"Chotto matte!" called a six-year-old Higurashi Kagome. She sprinted frantically after the retreating form of a graceful eighteen-year-old girl.
The brown haired teen stopped walking towards the village square and turned to face the child scurrying to catch up. She smiled, kneeled down, and held her arms out wide. Kagome leapt happily into her embrace. To Kagome, Ayume was the older sister she never had, and the same held true for Ayume, who cherished Kagome like she would a little sister.
"Kagome-chan, daijobu desu ka?" asked Ayume, stroking the girl's ebony hair.
"Hai, daijobu desu!" replied Kagome, smiling sweetly at the teen as she gazed into Ayume's viridian eyes with her own warm cerulean ones. "Onei- chan, where are you going?"
The teen sighed. "I have to go meet the Lord of the Western Lands, little one," she answered, "However, I do not really want to go."
"Doushite?" asked Kagome, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Ayume sighed. "If he picks me to go with him, I cannot see you for a year."
"A year?" Kagome echoed, perplexed.
"Hai, a year," replied the teen sadly.
Kagome thought a little. "Onei-chan," she called, "You will come back and see me, won't you?"
"Hai," responded the older girl, a smile gracing her lips. "I'll come see you right when I am able to."
"Promise?" A chubby pinky was extended in the air, waiting for the other girl's finger to link with her own.
"Promise." Their fingers linked, and Ayume gave Kagome a squeeze before she straightened up and continued towards the village square.
~ # * # ~
A year later. . .
"Ayume-chan!" called a seven-year-old Kagome.
The now nineteen-year-old brunette turned and eyed the ebony haired child dashing towards her. Ayume carried herself with what could be labeled as arrogance. She masked her face with make up, and dressed in an eye- catching array of colorful silks. Her hair was worn up elegantly and decorated with expensive ivory combs and the like.
Kagome reached Ayume and wrapped her arms around the teen's waist. "I missed you, onei-chan!" cried Kagome as tears of happiness trickled down her cheeks.
Ayume gently but firmly pried the younger girl off. "Onei-chan?" asked Kagome, perplexed.
"Iie. Don't call me that. I never was, and never will be your onei-chan," she rebuked, her face impassive. Yet her eyes were what disturbed Kagome the most. They were cold, hollow. . . uncaring. Without another word she spun and left a shocked and hurt Kagome.
"Onei-chan. . ." she whimpered, her tears of joy transforming into tears of grief. She fled to the arms of her mother.
Later, during the evening, Kagome strode solemnly, thoughtfully through a meadow on the edge of the village. Fireflies fluttered about blinking their lights, giving the field an enchanted look. Several of the creatures lit on the girl and decorated her light blue kimono with gentle pulses of light.
A coquettish giggle broke Kagome's thoughts, and in the darkening light, she could make out the faint outlines of Ayume and a man. They kissed intimately, whispering in a conspiring manner while giggling in each other's arms. The scene was to repeat itself many times, each time with a different man.
*End flashback*
Kagome shook her head. No. She didn't want to end up like Ayume. Ayume had been eventually killed by one of her lovers. Kagome wiped away a lone tear. She wasn't going to be chosen if she could help it! She loathed the Lord of the Western Lands for what he did to her friend, the older girl she had looked up to as the sister she never had. Her fiery spirit stirred within her, and it blazed brightly in her eyes. "I'll _make_ him chose another girl. I'll be rude and disrespectful," she muttered, fuming.
"Kagome-chan!" exclaimed her mother.
"I will! There is no way in the seven hells I will let him chose me!" snapped Kagome.
"Kagome!" called a rough masculine voice.
"Inuyasha!" cried Kagome happily, forgetting her loathing for the lord as her boyfriend poked his silver head into her room before stepping in. Clad in bright red with a string of prayer beads around his neck and an untransformed Tetsusaiga sheathed at his side, he looked a formidable opponent. His gold eyes darted to and fro, and his quivering nose never stopped scenting the winds. His long silver hair tumbled to his waist, and small white dog-ears protruded from beneath his mane. He wrinkled his nose at her dress. "Feh! What are you dressed up like _that_ for?" He leaned against the doorframe casually and folded his arms across his chest.
Kagome glared at the half-dog demon half-human. Sometimes she wondered why she liked him in the first place. She sighed. "The Lord of the Western Lands is coming, and I have to dress up like this," she grumbled.
Inuyasha snapped his head towards her. "Nani? You mean Sesshoumaru-sama?" he asked.
Kagome nodded her head reluctantly.
Inuyasha smirked. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you have a good chance of _not_ being picked," he commented haughtily.
Kagome tilted her head sideways, perplexed. "How?"
Her dog demon boyfriend twitched his ears in amusement. "Sesshoumaru-sama will probably think he is too _refined_ for the likes of you."
The silk clad girl raised an eyebrow skeptically. "And you would know this by. . .?"
Inuyasha suppressed a growl. "Let's just say I have my sources," he retorted, turning away and crossing his arms.
Kagome sighed and looked out a window towards the town square. Already a cluster of dressed up girls stood in a tight circle, gossiping and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the lord. Kagome rolled her eyes. 'They don't know what they're getting into,' she thought scornfully, 'Such ignorance.' She heaved a sigh.
"You're done, Kagome-chan," her mother replied. Kagome stepped off the small pedestal and studied herself in the full-length mirror. The light blue kimono with embroidered sakura blossoms was breathtaking. Her mother had done an excellent job sewing it.
"Arigatou, okaa-san," said Kagome, hugging her mother.
"Nandemonai, Kagome-chan," her mother replied, looking her over and beaming. Abruptly she left the room on the premise of looking for Souta, Kagome's little brother.
"You look. . . nice," Inuyasha commented gruffly after making sure Kagome's mother was out of hearing range.
Kagome quickly strode over to him and whacked him on the arm. "Is that _all_ you have to say?!? After all the hours okaa-san put into making this, you simply say, 'You look nice'?!?" she screeched.
"Maa, maa, I was joking! Really I was! You look wonderful, Kagome-san!" he said, hastily correcting himself. He gave her a warm squeeze. "Just be yourself, alright?" His brittle gold eyes softened as he looked into her warm coffee colored ones.
"Sure," she replied, before being silenced by a quick kiss.
Heartened by her boyfriend's words, Kagome stepped outside and waited for Lord Sesshoumaru's arrival.
~*~*~*~
Japanese Translations
Ningen- human
Hai- yes
Mochiron- of course
Okaa-san- mother
Youkai- demon
Chotto matte- wait
Daijobu desu ka?- are you all right?
Hai- yes
Daijobu desu- I am all right
Onei-chan- older sister
Doushite- why
Iie- no
Nani- what
Arigatou- thank you
Nandemonai- it's nothing
Maa, maa- now, now
~*~*~*~
FT: Konnichiwa, minna-san! This is my first Inuyasha ficcie, be critical; I want to make this a good story! Other characters will come into play later, perhaps even in the next chapter. . .
Kagome: Heh. . . I get to be all bitchy! ^_^
Inuyasha: Feh! You always were to begin with!
Kagome: Osuwari!
Inuyasha: *falls flat on his face and mumbles* Damn you, wench!
Sesshoumaru: *stares disdainfully at the both of them* I detest humans. *directs this statement at FT*
FT: Too bad! *glomps Sesshoumaru*
Sesshoumaru: *scowls*
FT: Sesshy-kun, you are one of _the_ most egotistical, chauvinistic males I've met, you know that?
Sesshoumaru: *frowns* That I did. Now will you get _off_ me?
FT: *grins happily* Iie. Irritable as well. . . *smirk* Review! Onegai? ^_^;;;
~*~*~*~