Author's Note

So, I've decided to try something new, an Alternate Universe fic. See? I can write good non-comedy stuff. Be warned, it's my first. Before you start, I should tell you its based off the animated movie "The Swan Princess" which is based off the ballet so the movie and the ballet have more or less the same storyline. And pleeease excuse me for the crappy title. If anyone would like to suggest a better title, I will welcome it in open arms. Oh, and another thing…Inu Yasha and Sesshoumaru are human (atleast in the beginning chapters)…as in THEY BOTH HAVE BLACK HAIR AND PURPLE EYES.

AND ONE MORE NOTE! Kikyou will be in this and will be one of the supporting characters. Please remember this is A/U so she's not a bitchy miko who's trying to steal Inu Yasha from Kagome. In fact, in this story, she's Kagome's older sister and wants Kagome to be with Inu Yasha, so don't flame me.

P.S.: Get your 'D' key ready 'cause I used a lot of big words, and with no help with the Microsoft Word Thesaurus, thank you very much!

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Prologue

(Before I start, I want you to read the author's note above if you have not already. It has some important information (well not really) I think you should read.)

Once upon a time, there was a land divided into two parts, the Eastern Lands and the Western Lands. A kind and just Lord who had two sons ruled the Western Lands. The Eastern Lands were ruled by a fair and gentle Lady, who had two children as well, both young girls.

The two sides were however at war, regardless of both the monarchs justness. The East and the West were fighting over the borderline that separated the two regions.

Finally the wars stopped when Lord and Lady of the East and West died suddenly in their sleep, despite their youthfulness. Young Prince Sesshoumaru of the West inherited his father's kingdom, and little Princess Kikyou of the East inherited her mother's. The new Lord of the West and Lady of the East decided to come to a truce and have peace talks to decide the final border between the sides.

The East and the West decided though, that the only way they could really be in peace was to marry off their two youngest royals, Prince Inu Yasha of the West and Princess Kagome of the East. Because the two were only infants, it was arranged that when one of them turned five, they'd meet every summer to get to know each other before they were wed.

But one week before he was to leave for his visit to the Eastern Lands, a supposedly trusted advisor turned traitor to his kingdom. The advisor was envious of the young Lord Sesshoumaru and the younger Prince Inu Yasha, so he used his knowledge of black magic and poisons to attempt to assassinate the younger boy. The scheme was realized before it was carried out and the traitor was exiled from the kingdom. Prince Inu Yasha and his brother left a week earlier than scheduled to start on the journey to the East. Thus our story begins…

Chapter I: As the Years Go By…

Session 1: The First Year: First Impressions Are Everything

Five year old Inu Yasha laughed playfully as the horse-drawn carriage bumped over the rock road. Across from him, his older eleven year old brother Sesshoumaru the Lord of the Western Lands sat quietly, viewing the moving scenery from his window.

From the outside, the carriage driver shouted over the rickety wheels, "We're almost there Mi Lord."

From a stranger, Sesshoumaru would've looked as if he didn't hear the driver's words, for continued to stare uninterestedly at the green fields that went on for the last few miles, resting his head in one palm. But if you knew him as well as Inu Yasha did, you could tell he had heard, but had just not wanted to respond.

The carriage rolled over another bump and Inu Yasha giggled again. The bumps were possibly the only thing that could entertain a five year old during a long carriage ride.

Well maybe not the only thing, talking…could also entertain a five year old.

"Where are we going, big brother?"

The young lord flinched in his seat, finally looking away from the green countryside and moving his view to his little brother's face. "I've told you atleast a hundred times, literally." He sighed and continued in an exasperated voice, "We're going to the Eastern Lands for the summer to meet Princess Kagome…your fiancée."—Sesshoumaru noticed the puzzled look Inu Yasha was wearing and sighed again —"A fiancée is woman to whom a man is engaged to be married."

Little Inu Yasha slumped far back into his seat until his back was laying on the part you sit on. Crossing his arms he said promptly in a pouty way, "Well if she's the person I'm gonna marry, then I hope she's fun!"

And as if the young prince's words were the cue, the carriage stopped and the driver opened the door. Inu Yasha jumped down with a small "Weee" and Sesshoumaru casually stepped out and grabbed his brother's hand. As they walked toward the castle of the Eastern Lands, Sesshoumaru told his brother quietly, "When you see the princess, it is imperative that you kiss her hand."

Inu Yasha stuck out his tongue, looked up at his brother, and whined, "Do I hafta?!"

Sesshoumaru glared back down at him, which meant: "Yes, you have to, so don't whine about or else." Out loud, he said, "And besides, kissing a woman's hand is not as awful as you think."

The prince snatched his hand out of Sesshoumaru's grip, crossed his arms, and pouted. "Yeah you're only sayin' that because you don't have to kiss a girl! In fact, you can't even find a girlfriend!"

Sesshoumaru abruptly grabbed his brother's hand back and seethed angrily, "Hold your tongue in, little brother." Saying he was angry, would be an understatement.

On the castle grounds, four year old Princess Kagome waited with an old priestess who acted as her nanny/tutor Kaede and her eight year old sister, the Lady of the Eastern Lands, Kikyou.

"But why do I have to marry now?" Kagome griped to her sister, putting on false puppy-dog eyes.

"I've told you Kagome…you are not marrying him yet!" Kikyou explained as exasperatedly as Sesshoumaru was towards Inu Yasha.

"Yeah…but still he's a boy!" Kagome lamented.

"Well of course," Kikyou said sardonically, "You wouldn't want us to marry you off to a girl would you?"

"…Well…I guess not…"

"I thought so," the young Lady replied smugly. "Now, let's go over what you must do when the royals of the West get here."

Kagome sighed and repeated what she had been taught as proper princess etiquette. "First, when they get here, I have to smile and not look bored, next I have to stand up straight, not slouch. Then, I have to outstretch my hand so that Inu Yasha can—" she made a face—"kiss it. Then we he's done putting his boy germs on me, I should—"

"Kagome!" Kaede and Kikyou scolded.

"What? It's true! And I don't want him to kiss me!"

A few minutes later, Inu Yasha and Sesshoumaru stood in front of Kagome and Kikyou. The Lord and Lady bowed to each other, said there 'Welcome's, 'Hello's and 'Thank you's while the Prince and Princess exchanged glares. Kagome hid behind her sister, but Kikyou gently pushed her forward. Inu Yasha refused to budge, but Sesshoumaru kicked him forward, hard. (XD Ranma ½ style)

The Princess took one more glance at Kaede and Kikyou before hesitantly outstretching her hand waiting for Inu Yasha to kiss it, while Inu Yasha gave his brother a pleading look before grabbing Kagome's outstretched hand and giving it a quick, but emotionally painful (well atleast to them) kiss.

Kagome jerked back, yelping and examining her hand and Inu Yasha was using his big red sleeve (he is in the same clothes that he usually is in) to wipe his mouth. "Yuck!" they said in unison.

The Princess opened her mouth to tell off the Prince, "You…you…"—she paused to think of a good insult—"BOY!"

"HAH! You can't even think of a good insult, you…you…"—and he himself also paused. He was thinking of that one word he heard his big brother used to insult a girl —"Bitch!"

His word caused a racket among the five. Sesshoumaru clasped his hands over Inu Yasha's mouth and promptly apologized for his brother's "ill mouth" Kikyou gasped, covered Kagome's ears ineffectively, and gave the Lord of the West a look that said: "What are you teaching him?!" Kaede shook her head and calmly worded what Kikyou was saying through her eyes.

The rest of the first summer was just as fun.

Session 2: The Fourth Year: 'Sit' Necklaces are Fun

(A/N: To speed up the storyline, I won't write about every summer they have together, but let's just say, they are FAR from falling in love with each other)

The year when Inu Yasha was eight and Kagome was seven was painfully fun. That is, it was fun for Kagome, and painful for Inu Yasha.

During this year, Kagome had asked a friend of hers to stay over for the summer. Sango, the eight year old daughter of a noble demon exterminator, was, in Inu Yasha's opinion, just as annoying his reluctant fiancée.

It was already 7 weeks into his summer visit and Inu Yasha couldn't wait until the first week of September so he could finally leave. Kagome and Sango were no fun. They'd always want to do girl stuff, never boy stuff. And worse, there were two of 'em, so they'd always one-up on him.

One such day, in particular was the "funnest" day for Kagome, and the most painful day of the summer for poor Inu Yasha. It all started when Kaede left the door open to her apothecary room. In this room, Kaede kept her medicinal herbs and prayer beads. Kagome had wandered into this room and saw upon the table was a necklace.

This necklace had dark beads and a few claw shaped ones too, Kagome took this necklace and a few other pieces of jewelry and went outside.

Kikyou, now at age eleven, had misjudged the prayer beads as Kagome's toys and had suggested that she, "Take your toys and go play with Inu Yasha."

Kagome pouted, but obeyed her sister, and took her so-called toys over to Inu Yasha was leaning against a tree alone.

The Princess dropped the prayer beads on the grass, glared at Inu Yasha, threw him the necklace with dark and clawed beads, "There play with that!"—When he put it on she continued—"Now just SIT over there and—"

Kagome didn't finish her sentence.

She didn't finish it because she was examining Inu Yasha, who had suddenly fallen face first into the ground. In a bewildered voice she queried, "How'd you do that?"

"How am I s'posed to know?!" Inu Yasha replied angrily, rubbing some dirt off his face.

"Well let's see…" Kagome thought out load, putting a finger to her chin, "I told you to sit over—"

Again, the young princess did not finish her sentence, because Inu Yasha had fallen into the ground once again. She reflected a bit more on what had just happened, and she abruptly got an idea of what was going on. To test her theory, she casually said, "Sit."

The Prince had just finished dusting himself off when he had suddenly fallen again. This had confirmed her assumption. So with a maniacal grin, she shouted, "SIT!" and watched Inu Yasha plant his face into the ground again.

As if on cue, Sango appeared nest to Kagome, in her pajamas. Rubbing an eye, she asked her friend sleepily, "What's going on Kagome?"

Kagome demonstrated what she had just found out to Sango.

"Neat!" Sango exclaimed, laughing hysterically along with her friend.

Once again, Kagome said the word Inu Yasha was now dreading.

Inside, a Sesshoumaru of fourteen years and Kikyou sat across from each other in deep concentration. In between them was a shogi board. Their concentration was broken as they heard several crashes from outside.

Without taking his eyes off the shogi pieces, Sesshoumaru asked his companion, "Should I check or should you?"

Kikyou rose from her seat and sighed. "We shall both check."

Sesshoumaru followed suit and he and Kikyou strode off in the direction of the crashing sounds.

The Lord and Lady of the West and East soon found themselves in the garden observing a strange sight.

"SIT!"

Crash

Giggle

Kikyou rushed towards the scene, as did Sesshoumaru. Kikyou grabbed Kagome's wrist from behind and whirled her around to face her. The Lady knelt down to Kagome's level and scolded, "What are you doing?"

Kagome's eyes went wide as she put on fake 'I'm innocent!' eyes. "Nuu-thin'!" she said oh too sugary sweetly.

Kikyou smirked, and replied sarcastically, "Oh! So Inu Yasha just dropped himself face first into the ground, on his own accord!?" She turned her view to Inu Yasha and pretended to chastise him. "Tsk, tsk, tsk! You shouldn't hurt yourself purposely!" she said shaking her head and wagging a finger. She winked at Sesshoumaru and continued to 'scold' the young Prince; "Now we have to punish you by making you eat vegetables!"

Kagome's eyes widened even more. No kid, not even Inu Yasha, deserved to be forced to eat his or her vegetables. So she confessed, "But Kikyou its not his fault! HIS NECKLACE HURT HIM!"

(In case you don't understand what just happened here, let me explain. Kikyou pretended to punish Inu Yasha so she could get Kagome to confess to hurting him. I'm just putting this here because when I read that part over, it was a little hard to understand.)

"Oh so it wasn't his fault?" she asked in mock bewilderment. "It was the necklace's fault? And who exactly gave him the necklace, Kag-chan?"

Timidly Kagome dug her foot lightly into the ground, put her hands behind her back, looked down and said in a small voice, "Me."

Kikyou and Sesshoumaru sighed as they picked up their respective siblings.

"That necklace will not be able to come off, until I find a counter-spell." Kaede remarked later that day.

Session 3: The Sixth Year: Let's Play Demon Exterminator

"See Kagome?" ten year old Sango said, holding up a curve-shaped weapon, "This is my new boomerang! My father gave it to me to train with until I'm ready for a bigger one!"

"Neat!" nine year old Kagome exclaimed. "Why don't we train now?"

"Good idea! But who could be the demon?"

Kagome looked around her to look for an alleged demon. Her eyes focused on Inu Yasha, leaning alone against a tree. (Around his neck was the necklace from two years before.) She pointed and shouted excitedly, "He could be the demon!"

"Another good idea Kag-chan!"

Inu Yasha propped himself against a tree, thinking about meaningless things, unsuspecting of the next thing that would happen. As he found himself deep in thought about how many more days until this visit would end, something clunked him in the back of the head. "OW!!!" A large bump was forming on his head. Hanging off the bump was one half of the boomerang that had smacked him.

The next things he saw, when he turned around, were two very furious girls, stomping towards him. "YOU BROKE MY BOOMERANG YOU JERK!" Inu Yasha looked at the grass had noticed the second half of the boomerang.

An anger mark appeared on Inu Yasha's head, "Yeah? Well YOU hit me on the head!"

The girls and the boy screamed in unison: "I'M TELLING!" and walked of in different directions.

Later that day, the young Lady walked into the young Lord's room.

"Hear for more shogi Lady Kikyou?"

"Not right now, Lord Sesshoumaru. Do you have any tape?"

"No. Do you have any bandages?"

Simultaneously they asked each other, "What for?" and simultaneously held up something from behind their backs. In Kikyou's hands was half a boomerang; in Sesshoumaru's hands was his head-bumped little brother, who was holding up the other half.

And once again, simultaneously, they sighed.

Perhaps this relationship wasn't working after all.

Session 4: The Seventh Year: Tree House

The year when Inu Yasha was eleven and Kagome was ten would be the last year they'd spend with each other, atleast for now. The Lord and Lady had realized the prince and princess were too young to fall in love with each other at the moment. So they devised a plan. They decided after this year, they would stop bringing the two together until they were at the age where they would appreciate each other.

This would be the last year they'd spend together as children.

And it was no different than the other years.

During this year, Kagome and Sango had decided to build a tree/club house. On one day during the summer, Inu Yasha was chasing the two girls up the treehouse. They had climbed up the rope ladder but pulled it up before the Prince could ascend it. The two girls held up a sign and stuck out their tongues.

"Hey! Let me up! It's not faaaair!" Inu Yasha complained jumping up and down frenetically.

"But we can't let you up!" Kagome said in a sing-song voice, pointing to the sign they held up. "If we did, we'd be breaking the rules!"

"Yeah! Breaking the rules!" Sango repeated. "Read the sign!"

Inu Yasha stopped jumping around and squinted at the sign. "But how can I read the sign when I can't even read?!"

His statement caused an explosion of giggles at the top of the treehouse. "YOU CAN"T READ?!"

"He's eleven years old and he can't read!" Sango exclaimed. "And you're supposed to marry 'im?"

More giggling erupted as Inu Yasha stared at them trying not to lose his temper. "What's so funny?!" he demanded.

His anger seemed to promote the giggles.

"ARGH!" Inu Yasha growled, kicking the tree in anger, hard. Real hard.

And with that the treehouse fell down with a crash. Sango was in the debris and Kagome fell on Inu Yasha, their lips barely a half inch away. Before Sango recovered herself from the wreckage, Kagome looked at Inu Yasha and Inu Yasha at Kagome. And since their hormones start to kick in at this age, they could feel themselves blush as they stared at each other for those few brief seconds.

"Cute…" Inu Yasha thought before shaking these thoughts out of his mind.

Kagome got out of her daze, soon got off Inu Yasha, and helped Sango out of the debris.

"WE'RE TELLING!" the two girls shouted in unison.

"NOT IF I TELL FIRST!" Inu Yasha countered angrily, regretting he even thought she was cute.

They both ran in different directions both screaming their respective siblings' names.

"SESSHOUMARU! SESSHOUMARU! SESSHOUMARU!"

"KIKYOU! KIKYOU! KIKYOU!"

Again across from each other playing shogi Sesshoumaru and Kikyou sighed, both thinking the same thing. "Thank Kami-sama this will be their last summer as bickering children!"

Not taking her eyes off the board, Kikyou commented, "So Sesshoumaru, you never taught the little Prince how to read?"

Sesshoumaru huffed in reply.

"Well, he'd be a failure in school, just as you are a failure with girls. You'd think after six years, you'd have a girlfriend by now."

Another huff came from the Lord of the West as he was had an internal debate on whether to tear Kikyou's head off or not.

The good bye they shared wasn't romantic, nor was it rated G either, thanks to the new curses/swears Inu Yasha learned from listening to Sesshoumaru.

"Bye bitch!"

"See you later, illiterate, potty-mouthed, tree-house-wrecking, jerk."

After Inu Yasha had left, Sango whispered to Kagome, "Good riddance." And they had a good laugh.

In the carriage, Inu Yasha looked back at Kagome as they winded down the road. "Cute…" crept back into his mind, as he absentmindedly mouthed the word.


5 Years Later: The West

The 16 year old cocky Prince Inu Yasha woke with a start as Sesshoumaru kicked him of his futon. "What the hell are you doing Sesshoumaru?!"

"Get packing. We're leaving in three days."

"We're not going to that stupid cattle-drive agai—" Inu Yasha started.

"No. We're going to the East…" Sesshoumaru said as if they went to the East everyday. To himself he added, "I do hope Lady Kikyou has kept her shogi board…"

Memories flooded back into Inu Yasha's head (And not very good ones at that). "Holy crap! Not that Kagome bitch!"—He tugged at the clawed necklace that rested on his neckline—"She's the reason I have this thing. Hell, she's also the reason my childhood is filled with crappy memories!"

"Well, like it or not, she's still your fiancée." Sesshoumaru said casually.

"Well she was a damn ugly back then, so she should be even uglier by now! I bet she even still has her hair in pigtails! She's probably flat-chested and overweight too! Did you see how she ate that oden?"

"Oh…I think you'll like what you see… Lady Kikyou was taken the liberty of sending me a picture of the princess, and I must say she has bloomed into quite a beautiful young lady."

"Oh, well if you like her so much, why don't you marry her? I mean you still don't have a girlfriend yet." Inu Yasha replied smugly.

Sesshoumaru did not reply, but instead stomped off. "Just pack for the journey." And slid the door, hard. (I forgot what the Japanese sliding door thing is called --; Anyone wanna tell me?)

In his room, Inu Yasha lied down on his futon, looking up at the ceiling, thinking. It had taken him quite long to realize how cute Kagome was, even if back then, she was only ten.

It had been an accident, how he had finally realized how cute she was. She had fallen on him, after he had kicked the treehouse. And they stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. It was like the world disappeared around him. No one else existed at that point except her.

Shaking his head furiously, he hastily erased the thoughts out of his mind. "No…she's just a…just a bitch!"

The East

"Kagome help me set the guestroom." Kikyou said. "We have visitors coming in three days."

Fifteen year old Kagome groaned, "Oh…not those guys from the cattle drive agai—"

Kikyou shook her head, "No, not them. Your fiancé is coming over for the summer."

"My fianc—" she started blankly. Seconds later, she realized who Kikyou was talking about, "MY FIANCE?!" she said angrily, "THAT JERK?! THAT INU YASHA JERK YOU BETHROTHED ME TO?"

"Be quiet Kagome!" Kikyou said sharply. "Some people are still sleeping."

Kagome pouted and purposely set up the futon on the guest floor untidily. She walked out of the room and started thinking of his last visit. When he was leaving in the carriage, she saw him look back and mouth something. That Kagome read as a word that ended with the letters '-ute' or '–oot'

Angrily, she thought, "He was probably thinking 'brute' or 'coot' or something!" As she thought of the word 'coot' she realized Inu Yasha could be mouthing the word cu—NO! It couldn't be. "He hated me, and I hated him."

She walked back into the guest room and arranged the futon nice and neatly.

Another First Meeting

In the carriage, Inu Yasha couldn't help but smile uncontrollably as they rode over the bumps. Embarrassed, he tried to cover his mouth with his red sleeve.

Sesshoumaru eyed him strangely, "You still like the road bumps after 11 years?"

"No!" Inu Yasha said defensively as they rode over another bump, making him grin wildly again.

Sesshoumaru continued to stare briefly but soon stopped as they neared the castle of the East.

Speaking of the East, Kagome and Sango were waiting in anticipation for the guy that they enjoyed tormenting as children.

"What do you think he looks like now?" Sango asked.

"Who cares?" Kagome lied, trying to pretend that she didn't want to know, even though she was practically itching to see what he had become. "He's probably got acne or something. I bet he's a dork by now."

"But Kagome…" Sango protested, "You know that he was quite good looking, now that I think about it…"

Kagome's eyes widened. Was he best friend hitting on Inu Yasha? Her fiancé? Angrily she blurted, "Hey! Lay off! He's my fiancé!" Immediately she clapped her hand over he mouth, embarrassed at what had just escaped her lips.

Sango smiled. She knew Kagome had thought Inu Yasha was attractive as well. Ever since that day with the treehouse, when she had spied on the two through the debris, she had known. Even now she could see it in her best friends eyes…

There was a sudden knock on the door and Kaede came in and said, "Kagome, Inu Yasha is here…downstairs"

Kagome jumped up from her seat, clapping her hands to her mouth again. She scanned her mind for an excuse not to go downstairs yet. As much as she wanted to, she wasn't ready to see him yet. "Um tell him I need to…brush my hair! Err…Sango keep 'im busy!"

"But—"

"Please?!"

Sango sighed, but followed Kaede downstairs in anticipation.

Inu Yasha looked around crossing his arms and closing his eyes (because anime people tend to do that oo), "Feh…This place hasn't changed a bit." He took a seat in the Great Dining Hall and sat on it backwards. "So where's the bitch?"

Sango emerged from the staircase, not daring to look at Inu Yasha, but instead looking at her feet "She's upstairs…um…brushing her hair?" She raised her eyes only to glance at Inu Yasha, but found herself staring at him for the longest time. Wow. Kagome sure is lucky!

Inu Yasha was staring too. Was that Sango? Sango, the little brat of five years ago? If Sango turned out cute, then did Kagome turn out cuter than she was before?

(A/N: I just read it over and I noticed it seemed a little too InuSango, but it's not okay? This fic is strictly InuKag, MirSan, and heck maybe even an older RinSess)

Meanwhile, upstairs, Kagome breathed nervously at the turn of the stairwell. This would be the first time they would see each other in a while, since that treehouse incident, since Inu Yasha had mouthed the word that possibly was 'cute'. The princess swallowed hard and turned the corner, anticipating Inu Yasha.

"I'm here!" she said cheerfully to hide her intense nervousness.

Inu Yasha looked up from the shogi game he was watching, and saw her.

She wasn't cute…

She was cuter than cute…

"H-hi." Inu Yasha stuttered, dumbstruck.

"Hi." Kagome replied just as stupidly, staring.


"A demon?"

"Yes, Kagura, a demon."

"Dog?"

"Correct Kagura, I will turn him into the mutt he is."

"Master Naraku…what of his brother."

"Do what you wish"

"When will the plan ensue?"

"The first of September."

"I don't know you to wait that long."

"It's for the best Kagura. I've waited 11 years for this, I can wait three more months for my rule to come."

"Yes...master"

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And that is my very first Alternate Universe fic! Hope you like it. Verdana Ref, Size 11, 11 pages, that's a new record for me! The summer months are coming soon, so I'll get to update this and all my other fics regularly.

Review please! Please put in constructive criticism or whatever! And don't just review like this "d0Od, dAt wuz K00L" okay?

And YES, Miroku will be in this, so perverted monk fans please don't worry!!!

Hmmm…I think that's all I have to say.

Thanks!

S.K.