iGo to a Renaissance Faire!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nor do I own anything of value . . . except for Jackson . . . (keep reading to see where this comes into play).
"Hurry Kagome!" Ayumi called, "Before that punk you call a boyfriend gets here. Isn't that what you were so worried about? The reason that you are making us leave this early?" She looked out the window where it was still just before dawn.
"Yeah," Yuka yawned, "I like to get to the faire early just like the next girl but this is ridiculous!" Eri seconded the motion and helped Kagome into her skirts.
"I'm sorry guys," Kagome was flushed from digging her renaissance garb out of her closet, all of the skirts, belts and bobbles and the corset which lay across her vanity, that would go on once they got to the faire; Kagome knew all too well the annoyance wearing the thing in the car could cause.
"There, done!" Eri called, throwing her hands up, "Let's get out of here!"
The four girls grabbed their purses and corsets and ran out the door. Kagome thought that they would actually make it to the renaissance faire without Inuyasha when, as they made it through the gate, a familiar dog-boy appeared in front of them. "Hey Kagome," he grinned wickedly seeing her friends, "whacha doin'? Not trying to run away are ya?"
Ayumi, Yuka and Eri both stood slack-jawed, they had seen this Inuyasha before, when he had jumped through Kagome's window that time, and he was wearing the same outfit, but those ears!
"Wow!" Yuka exclaimed first, "You must be a rennie!" She reached out and touched his ears, "I always see rennies wearing these ear thingies! Hey, yours are awesome, very high quality!"
"Oh, that . . . uh . . ." Kagome blushed and scratched the back of her head, hoping that Inuyasha would put up with her friends prodding, "yeah, that's it. Ha ha, long time rennie! Ha ha ha ha . . ."
"What the hell's a 'rennie'?" Inuyasha peeled Yuka's hand off of his ear.
"Oh," Kagome thought fast, "That's not what you call it, it's someone who always dresses in clothes form the past."
This was true for Inuyasha so he agreed.
"Hey, Kagome, we need to talk," her friends called her off to the side, leaving Inuyasha standing at the shrine entrance still slightly confused, "why don't you just take him with us?"
Only to avoid a long, drawn-out explanation, Kagome agreed and, after a significantly shorter explanation to Inuyasha (much shorter than he wanted) the five of them were on their way to the renaissance faire.
"What the hell is this place?" So many sights, colors and smells! Wow! The smells! Incense and, Inuyasha knew it was human body odors, but even by his standards, which were pretty lax considering he lived in Feudal Japan; those were to worst of all.
"It's a renaissance faire! But all of the buildings and clothing here is western, not Japanese like you're used to," Kagome grabbed onto Inuyasha's arm while Auymi pulled the stays of her corset. On Inuyasha's other side Eri and Yuka did the same thing. Inuyasha just stood there, still dazed by the place. Once the girls were dressed they paid their entrance fees and entered the main village.
"Um, Kagome," Inuyasha asked before long, "I have to . . ." he raised an eyebrow, unsure of what people called it in her time.
"Oh," Kagome pointed down the alley they were on, "flush-toilets are that way." (Inuyasha had used the one in her house before so she knew that he would be fine on his own.) While he was gone, however, her friends began attacking her, wanting to know how far the two of them had gotten, and why Kagome never brought him out. (One absently wondered if she kept him locked up in the well shrine or something.)
Finally, Inuyasha returned, glancing back over his shoulders every few steps. Though Kagome was curious of this action, she didn't say anything, choosing instead to lead him to a booth called Mystic Fairie. While the girls went about sniffing incenses and looking at medieval bobbles, Inuyasha stood outside and people watched. So strange was this "renaissance" culture that he now would put nothing pass the people of Kagome's time. He sighed and rolled his eyes.
From in the booth, Kagome turned around just in time to see Inuyasha freeze.
From down the alley a ways Kagome saw a rather large girl freeze, squared off against Inuyasha. If body language was any indicator, he was worried about this girl. Kagome looked between the hanyou and girl. 'Could this girl be a demon?' she thought, slightly worried.
(Authors Note: and here comes a true anecdote that happened to me on my last trip to a renaissance faire . . . stupid ears *grumble grumble grumble*)
'Oh no,' Inuyasha paled as the girl started toward him. He had been watching her since first running into him on his way back from the "flush-toilets" and she had been glomping (a word he learned from Kagome) every person in sight with just a patch of fur (which was not in short supply at the Renaissance faire). Now, she had her eyes set just above his head and before he could snap out of it and dodge she had both of his ears in her chubby hands. "Ohhhhhh!" she was mesmerized, "I saw them and just had to touch them!" She pulled, on the left one, "Wow! These are really on there! Hey," she got a devilish glint in her eyes, "can I try them on?"
Luckily for Inuyasha, that was just when Kagome arrived and draped herself over the hanyou while he was flubbing over a hedge, "Can I help you?" Inuyasha wasn't sure he had ever heard Kagome sound that bitchy but was glad for it when the girl instantly turned tail and ran. Once the danger was gone Kagome let go of Inuyasha and turned to face him, "You can't stay out of danger for two moments, can you?" She knew she was echoing what he always told her while she was in the Feudal era.
Inuyasha didn't respond, seeing what was protruding from the top of her head. "Um, Kagome . . . " he pointed.
"Oh!" Kagome blushed slightly and touched the pink cat ears that now adorned her black hair, "Poly-resin, I thought that they were a cute souvenir from the faire, do you like? Go ahead," she shoved one toward his face, "touch one."
Now was Inuyasha's turn to blush as he reached out one clawed hand and rubbed the ear presented to him, "Nice, I guess . . ."
Kagome laughed, "Common, the jousting tournament is about to start."
From their perch near the Mystic Fairie booth Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka all giggled to themselves. They didn't quite get why Kagome was so against calling the silver-haired hottie her boyfriend, they were obviously close! The sexual tension between the two of them was thick enough to be cut with a knife. Even as they walked off they could see Inuyasha's hand relax in Kagome's and was he really drifting closer to her? They were totally meant to be together!
"I don't get it," Inuyasha complained after the first pass. Both riders were still on their horses and only one lance (the man in blue) had shattered. "They didn't even try to attack each other; they were aiming at the shields. Everyone knows that you never win a battle that way." He "feh"ed and turned away, his arms crossed.
Kagome giggled as the chargers tilted at each other again, "No, that's not the point! It's a game, a way of seeing who the best warrior is; it doesn't involve violence," she thought a moment, "well, not that much. The point is to break your lance on your opponent, which earns you varying amounts of points, and you can win the other's horse if you unhorse him!" Kagome looked off dreamily, thinking of knights in shining armor. (Awhile later, while she was lying in bed that night, she realized that the knight she was thinking of, when he lifted his visor, was Inuyasha.)
Inuyasha turned just in time to see the blue knight go flying off of his horse and land in a puddle of mud. "Well, this does seem interesting." His ears began quivering with delight as the red knight, the victor, did a victory lap, raising his broken lance high in the air.
Before Kagome could stop him he leapt into the arena, "Hey! I wanna try!" He pointed a claw at the knight, "I challenge you, Son Red!" From the stands, Kagome paled.
"Ha ha ha ha," 'Son Red' laughed heroically, "You want to challenge me? But you have no horse or lance!"
"Well then, he must borrow mine," from the lane the Black Knight brought out his stead and lance, "Here good sir, I trust you know how to ride?" He was answered as Inuyasha climbed up onto the mount and set him back to the starting line. Inuyasha had only seen two passes but he had been paying attention to at least the first one and felt that he knew how to play this "joust". He grinned smugly as Son Red got ready at the other end.
The starting trumpet sounded and both riders spurred their mounts on. The lance felt almost natural in Inuyasha's hand as he leveled it at his opponent. The two horses closed the gap between them in a matter of seconds and Kagome, with her hands over her eyes (which served no point because she was looking through a hole in her fingers) watched in horror as both lances shattered (remember, Inuyasha had on no armor).
"Hm," Inuyasha grinned as he felt the splintered end of the lance catch on Son Red's breast plate and he easily hefted him out of his saddle and tossed him to the ground. "Well, Son Red, it seems that I win!" He leapt off of the horse and tossed the steed's reigns to the Black Knight. "Thanks for the loaner."
Kagome's jaw dropped as her man took up Son Red's horse, "I'll be taking this." He lifted himself into the saddle and shook his fist in the air, loving the cheers he was getting from the crowd. That was until the chubby girl from before caught sight of him, and also noted that the girl that was with him before was nowhere to be seen. She began running toward him frantically. "Kagome!" he beckoned her over and the chubby girl skidded to a stop and ran the other way.
"Common Kagome," Inuyasha reached down from the large brown charger, "Let's get out of here." He pulled her up in front of him, just in front of the high saddle and cradled her into his right arm. With one valiant kick, he set the horse toward the sunset and galloped away, leaving Kagome's friends standing next to the faire's cannon.
"Um," Eri scratched the back of her head, "When do you think they'll realize that Kagome lives the other way?"
(A/N Thanks to SarahCarter for the idea for the ending)