The Flower Princess Inuyasha X Kagome
This is a story that happened a long time ago in a faraway place.
There was a young girl with a magnificent flower tattoo mark on her chest against her heart.
Her name is Kagome Higurashi. She earns money by travelling around as a dancing girl with her companion Inuyasha to find the devil who sealed her fate.
`It is so hard to earn money,' Kagome thought to herself looking at the coins she had collected.
"Just buying one fruit for dessert is a serious fight, too," says Kagome picking up an apple from one of the racks.
'I wonder which one I should choose' she thought to herself.
"Hey, girl you're going to buy the one you touched, right?" says a voice. Kagome turns around and sees the store owner glaring at her.
"Of course! Please give me this one." Kagome holds the coins in her hand toward the store owner but he steps away from her.
"Leave the money on the rack over there," says the owner pointing towards it.
Kagome hears a couple of women whispering behind her.
"Don't you know? It's a rumour, but apparently, 'that flower' is the mark of her having the devil's heart," says one of the women.
"The devil's?" says the other woman.
"She must have traded her life with it. Apparently, there's a ritual where you exchange your heart, which once stopped beating, with that of the devil, and thus you can lengthen your life."
"How frightening…"
"You're bothering my business. Move aside already if you are done here!" yells the store owner as he pushes her out of the way.
"Ahh!" cries Kagome as she is about to drop her apple that she bought. In a flash Inuyasha catches her in one of his arms and the apple in his other hand. Inuyasha gives the store owner a cold glare. Inuyasha was a very handsome man and he had beautiful long black hair.
"What? Are you a friend of that 'devil girl'?" yells the store owner.
While I was on the verge of death, my mother clutched at straws and summoned a high-class devil with great magical power.
"Please give your heart to my child for a short while."
And the devil said…
"I agree, but in exchange, when your daughter turns sixteen, her body will be mine to eat."
Thus, my chest is engraved with a seal that indicates that I am the devil's prey. Time flew by since then and I am already fifteen.
"People who don't know, all say the mark is pretty," says Kagome to Inuyasha as they were walking away from the market place.
"That's because as long as there's one person who knows it's meaning, the rumour will spread quickly," replies Inuyasha, "If it's hard to bear, you don't have to force yourself to appear in front of others. From the beginning, I didn't intend to make you work…"
"No! You're not business-minded, and you can't put on diplomatic smiles. In addition to that, you're so uncooperative, Inuyasha. Could you have continued your long standing job until now?"
Inuyasha stares at Kagome in shock and doesn't respond to her remark.
"Moreover, I don't hate this mark. That's because the reason why I can be living right now, is thanks to the heart under this 'flower.' Secretly hiding this mark because of other people's gossiping… isn't that rude to the devil who gave me this heart? I'm fine. Dancing is about the only thing that I can do. Moreover, more than anything, I…." Kagome cuts off. Inuyasha looks at her waiting for her to finish.
"I once want to stuff my stomach with desserts," says Kagome. Inuyasha tries to hide his laugh and responds with a "Yeah." Kagome looks at Inuyasha's smiling face and blushes.
Inuyasha is my life saviour, who picked me up when I was small and brought me up. To me, he is both parent and brother. He's really important to me.
"I guess it's time to leave this town… Is this all we have?" says Inuyasha picking up a sack of their stuff, "Then let's depart…" Suddenly a huge gust of wind blew and out jumped a little small boy with a fox tail.
"You called me, so I flew!" happily says the little fox boy, "My name is Shippo and I am a fox demon."
He looks over at Kagome. "Are you Kagome Higurashi, the 'the devil dancing girl?' Sorry that this is so sudden, but my master, Koga, wants to see you."
"Hold on!" yells Kagome as Shippo pulls her arm.
Later…
"Heh. What a magnificent 'flower,' just like the rumours say." Kagome looks at the man sitting on his fancy chair surrounded by beautiful women holding food and wine.
"'Koga?' Isn't that the prince of this country!" Kagome thought to herself. Kagome looks behind her and sees Inuyasha sitting in a respectful way.
"Were you surprised by my messenger who suddenly appeared?" asked the prince. Kagome looks to her side and sees the fox demon Shippo sniffing her arm.
"You smell good," says Shippo. Koga gets up and walks over to Shippo and picks him up by his shirt and throws him to one side of the room.
"By the way, He's the fox demon that serves me. As long as I don't order him to, he won't do any harm to you," says Koga as he kneels down in front of Kagome and touches her hair, "I heard that 'the girl who carries the devil's heart' has a sweet smell that certainly makes humans, and even other devils intoxicated…" Koga strokes her hair through his fingers and sniffs it, "I see. It's not bad."
Kagome felt herself blush and asked Koga "Uhm… did you call me here to dance…?"
"I don't care about something so trivial."
'Something so trivial?' Kagome thought to herself.
"You…. Become my woman," boldly says Koga pointing at Kagome.
'Wait…WHAT?' Kagome thought in alarm.
"You are interesting. A girl with a devil's heart is a rarity among rare items. I can brag with other countries."
"But if by any chance, I damage your reputation…." Said Kagome trying to get herself out of this sticky situation. ' I have heard in this world, stupid princes are as many as stars in the sky, but…' thought Kagome.
"Oh, it's just for a short while since you are going to die soon, right?" Kagome felt her heart skip a beat. Inuyasha glances to see what Kagome's reaction to it was.
"I know. You'll have to return that heart when you turn sixteen, right? When you do, of course your life will end, too. Then this is a better deal for, I think?" Kagome grip her hands because they were starting to shake.
"If you become my woman. I'll let you live in a luxury that you have never experience. In your remaining time, you won't have to earn daily income as a travelling performer…" Koga was cut off though when Inuyasha got up and grabbed him by the throat.
"Inuyasha!" screamed Kagome.
"Don't sully her mind any more than that," said Inuyasha with cold eyes.
"How dare you act rude to Koga-sama! Capture him!" yelled one of the guards.
Inuyasha tightens his grip around Koga's neck. Kagome runs over to Inuyasha and grabs his arm.
"No! Calm down, Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha loosens his grip and lets go of Koga. Koga then gasps for air.
"Take them away! Execute the guy tomorrow morning!" ordered Koga. The guards then seize Inuyasha and Kagome.
"No way! Wait for me, Inuyasha. I'll definitely save you!" cried Kagome reaching towards Inuyasha. Inuyasha caresses her face and says "Kagome. If anything happens, call my name. I'm the only one who can protect you." Inuyasha smiles at Kagome and is then cuffed and taken away.
"Still trying to act cool. A lady-killer like you can't protect anything when you're in this situation, all right?" says one of the guards to Inuyasha. Inuyasha looks down at his cuffs and smiles.
"I'm not so sure about that."
Meanwhile Kagome was escorted to Koga's room. The guards shoved her inside. Kagome looks for a way out and tries the window but it was too high to jump and the tower was surrounded by woods.
"Ghosts will come out in the woods at night." Kagome turns around and sees Koga. Koga walks over to Kagome. He leans over her against the wall.
"Do you know? They say that a devil's heart tastes very good to other devils. It's the best quality of fruit. It might be interesting to use you to feed them." Koga brushes his finger against her mark.
"I'm looking for the devil that gave me his heart." Koga looks in Kagome's eyes in shock.
"In one year, this life that my mother saved for me will end, and there's nothing I can do about it. If I search for him until 'the appointed day,' and if I can meet him once again, maybe I'll find a good way to lengthen my life." Kagome looks into Koga's face with a serious look.
"I just don't want to live a life that I'll have to regret."
"You…." Suddenly bats flew through the window. Koga lets go of Kagome.
"Damn it. The bats flew in…" said Koga trying to shoo the bats out. While trying to shoo them out his ring slipped off his finger and fell out of the window. Kagome tried to catch it but fell too.
"Kagome!"
Kagome fell out of the tower but luckily the trees softened her fall.
"It hurts but I got stuck in the trees, so somehow I managed to…" Kagome looked in her hand and she had managed to catch the ring. She looked down and saw that she had fallen on Shippo. She quickly gets up off him.
"If I'm not wrong, you're the fox demon that serves prince Koga?"
"To be exact, I'm the fox demon that lives inside that ring. It's my job to serve whoever rubs the ring and calls me out. Just now at the moment when you caught the ring, you rubbed it, and I was called out. By the rules, my current master is you. Tell me whatever wish you have." Kagome looks at the fox demon with a blank look. She then looks around and picks up a stick off the ground.
"My wish…T-then fire! Please give me light."
"Easy," says Shippo as he uses his power to set the stick alight. Kagome sighs with relief.
I vaguely remember, after my mum passed away, I was feared by the people around me and locked up in a dark tower. I remember hearing people outside saying "If other people know of the 'girl with the devil's heart', the honour of our family will be ruined. We absolutely can't let other people see her.
"We'll have to be patient until the devil comes to take back his heart. At that time, she'll die anyway."
'I don't want to die here' I thought to myself. While I was absorbed in that thought, I ran away from the tower and it was right after that, that I first met Inuyasha. It was in the woods at night. His form, illuminated by the moonlight, was so beautiful that it took my breath away…
"Hold on, master. Be careful. In the woods, there's something…" Kagome stopped because she heard a noise coming from the trees. She looked up and on the branch was a lion with three eyes and two snakes as a tail.
'A demon?' Kagome thought to herself in alarm.
"What a delicious smell. Let me eat you, 'devil girl," said the devil lion. Kagome's eyes widened with fear.
Meanwhile back in the prison cell in Koga's castle Inuyasha felt there was something wrong.
"Kagome…." Whispered Inuyasha.
"Stay put!" yells one of the prison guards.
"Where are you? Kagome"
Back in the woods Kagome and Shippo were being chased by a devil.
"Shippo. Can't you beat that devil!" yelled Kagome.
"Sorry master. My 'level' is a bit low."
"What did you say!"
"I can't directly fight with a devil…"
"We have nowhere to run anymore!" screamed Kagome as she sees the path is blocked off by a wall ahead.
"Let me eat your heart!" said the lion devil as it was about to pounce on Kagome. Kagome closes her eyes ready to accept her fate.
"Move out of the way, Kagome!" yelled Koga as he flies in and strikes the devil with his sword.
"Prince Koga!" cries Kagome. The lion then roars in pain.
"You're just a mere human!" roars the lion as it head butts Koga in the chest. Koga trying to protect Kagome ends up hitting her head against the wall. Kagome gets dizzy and before she blacks out she thought of what Inuyasha last said to her. She opens her moth and whispers "…In…Inuyasha…."
Back in the prison cell Inuyasha stands up and looks out of the prison window into the moonlight. He felt a surge of power flow through him.
"Hey, what are you doing?" yells one of the guards, "Can you hear me!"
In the moonlight the guard saw Inuyasha's hair change from jet black to a platinum white colour and saw his eyes change to red and his nails turned to claws.
"What's going on!" yelled the guard.
"Found her." Inuyasha then with one swipe of his claws the prison wall exploded.
"M-monster!"
Back in the woods Koga was losing to the lion. He couldn't even wield his sword anymore because he was to weak.
"Hey, get a hold of yourself," cried Shippo trying to wake Kagome up, "How could this happen? We finally got to know each other, but we already have to part. God is so ruthless…what?" Suddenly Shippo felt a cold shiver crawl down his back. He has never felt this kind of feeling before. What or whose presence is this?
"This presence…!" yelled Shippo.
"What is it this time?" said Koga.
The lion looks up on top of the wall and sees a demon. He had his arms crosses and had a calm look on his face and on his chest was a flower mark just like Kagome's.
"Are you the one who meddled with Kagome?" said Inuyasha as he prepares his claws to strike down the lion and jumps off the wall.
"You dared to lay a hand on my girl. Regret it in the death world."
Koga watched in shock as Inuyasha slashed the lion into pieces. When the lion was dead Inuyasha licked his claws. Koga saw the cuffs around Inuyasha's wrists. Shippo was holding Kagome's hand and shaking with fear.
"Don't tell me you're Inuyasha," said Koga, "Why is a devil protecting Kagome 'a girl with a devil's heart.'" Inuyasha glanced over at Kagome. Inuyasha walks over to her unconscious body. Shippo quickly backs off.
"…because she is borrowing my life, all of what she feels, her joy and her sadness are all conveyed to me through the 'flower.' If she's the 'flower,' then I'm the 'leaf.' Inuyasha kneels down and holds her. He runs his long sharp claws threw her hair.
"Once a contract has been exchanged, no matter what the reason is, you can't ever escape from it," says Inuyasha, "That's why I'll be troubled if she's not alive. That's right…until the day I take back my heart." Koga watches in shock as Inuyasha gently kisses Kagome's chest.
The next morning….
"…I wonder how I was saved after that?" asked Kagome as her, Inuyasha and Shippo were leaving Koga's castle woods.
"It's thanks to Koga. He and Shippo's magic beat the lion devil," replies Inuyasha. Kagome turns and smiles at Shippo.
"Eeeh No! T-T-that…." Says Shippo but he is cut off when Inuyasha glares at him, "…That was probably the case…" Shippo sighs with relief when Inuyasha smiles.
"Koga… he wasn't such a bad guy," says Kagome.
"Have you taken a liking to him?" asks Inuyasha.
Kagome turns around and grabs Inuyasha cloak and yells "That's not it! It's only because I didn't think he would release you! That sexually-harassing prince!" Kagome tears up and hugs Inuyasha.
"I'm so glad you came back, Inuyasha." Kagome quickly releases him and looks out in the distance of the of the woods.
"Ah! I can see a new town." Kagome and Shippo start running ahead of Inuyasha.
"Don't be too attached to me, Kagome," says Inuyasha to himself, "Your heart will only hurt in the end."
"This is bad! I took Koga's ring with me!" yelled Kagome.
"It's his's anyway, It's ok," replies Inuyasha.
"It's not!"
'Actually my previous master ordered me to protect Kagome from that devil but I-I can't tell them that…' thought Shippo to himself.
It's a story that happened a long time ago at a far, far away place.
A marvellous fairytale about a flower that dances in the forests.
To be continued…