Chapter 2: Two Places At Once
Kagome awoke surround by unfamiliar faces trying to register what happened. Last thing she could remember was running off with some reflection of herself then being tied up and hauled over the shoulder of some huge man. She reached up to massage the side of her face and grunted.
"Aaaw, what happened?"
"Tell the lord his daughter has awaken," an elderly woman ordered the guard standing next to the door to do so, then motioned for all the others to leave,"You are back home and this time you won't run away again considering your condition. You fell and bumped your head. That might be why you can't remember much, but you will be fine under my care as usual, as long as you don't try anything."
Kagome looked out a window to the right of the bed and realize that she was in some kind of castle or palace or something also acknowledging the elegancy of the way the room was put together; paintings on the wall, the silk sheets of the bed, everything so regal.
'What have I gotten myself into?' Kagome rubbed her painfully throbbing head, relaxing a bit with the supplied compress.
"You mustn't keep running away putting your father through so much trouble. No one wants a disobedient mate. Lucky for you Naomi, the young Western Lord has summoned the daughters of the other Lords to come to his palace so he can select a suitable mate and you may have a brilliant chance," the woman smiled down at her.
"Me? A suitable mate? What are you talking about? I'm not who you think I am. I'm Kagome not Naomi! Take me back to where you found me," Kagome popped up and pointed out the window.
"Looks like we have a case of amnesia. You must have hit your head harder than I thought. The guards did say you took a long fall. And where on earth did you come up with a name like Kagome?"
"Because it's my name! Now how do I get out of here?"
"Rest, you need it. Tomorrow we will get you ready to go to the Western Palace."
"No, I'm getting out of here," Kagome jumped out of the bed and dashed out the door, still grasping her pulsating head.
"You're not fooling anyone Naomi, making up those crazy stories," the old woman was surprisingly fast and took off gaining on Kagome.
'The coast is clear. Now all I gotta do is...,' Kagome looked over her shoulder big eyed,"OH SHIT," Kagome never would say such a thing but, she had no other way to describe her shock of the elderly woman's speed, realizing she had to be in a palace of a demons meaning that reflection of herself, Naomi was demon. Now the question was why couldn't they sense the difference?
Kagome turned the corner down another hall smiling victoriously realizing the woman was no longer behind her but, then lost her grin seeing that there was a reason she stopped. She ran smack dead into a tall figure dressed in silk robes with long black hair brought to a bun at the top of his head.
"Naomi! Running off again hn. I was just coming to check on."
'He most be the Lord of this palace,' Kagome stood stunned staring up at him. They both turned to look at the huffing old lady who stood at the corner.
"My Lord. She wasn't going to get away aga...," the woman started.
"Save your words. She won't get away now," he stared at the older woman's wheezing form. "Rest yourself and return to your previous duty. I think I'll have someone younger assist Naomi."
The elderly woman continued forward breathless. "Yes my lord."
"All due respect, but I'm not Naomi. I'm Ka...,"
"Naomi you should know by now you can't fool your own father. What were you doing? Trying to give the poor woman a heart attack? You will be planted firmly down now that the Western Lord has requested a mate, and you have the best chance of becoming so. He will keep you in line. Besides, if you are chosen you will be the source of my plans if you like it or not. You must bide by what I say and wish of you, which you have failed to do since your mother past. Run away again and you will be punished this time. I will lead you back in your room and you will stay in there. If you think about escaping however, you are surrounded."
Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. If Naomi is in her place right now and her friends couldn't tell the difference, they wouldn't come for her. She sadly followed her father back to her room.
'Naomi I know you tried to save me but you didn't come back. I don't know what happen to make us identical, but I have a feeling you planned this so I could take your place and you could do as you please.'
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"Kagome, when you left you said you were making ramon when you got back, so where is it," Inuyasha stared at Naomi from the other side of the fire.
"Raman? What?" Naomi gave him a puzzled look.
"Don't play stupid Kagome," he ripped through Kagome's yellow bag and held up a cup, "this."
"Oh," Naomi grunted her teeth, 'What in the world?'
"Kagome you don't have to make him anything considering the number of times you showed him how to do it," Miroku looked over at a growling Inuyasha.
"Inuyasha's just being lazy." The little red head fox demon hopped out of the slayers lap and made himself comfortable on Naomi who flinched. Both Sango and Miroku noticed but put it aside.
'He must be Kagome's friend or more like a son or something. I guess I'll have to get use to it for awhile.'
"Shippo you're the last person that should be calling someone lazy you little imp."
"Hey! I don't look like Jaken," Shippo shouted shaking his fist.
"Who's Jaken," Naomi asked with distaste.
"You know, Sesshomaru's little ward," Sango reminded Kagome.
"Oh yeah," Naomi pretended to know but then realized she actually did know.
"Why did you have to bring up that bastard!" Inuyasha screamed at Shippo not wanting to get on Sango's bad side although she said it.
"Anyways, we should get some sleep tonight, so we can get up early and head to the village with the missing sacred scrolls," Miroku enlightened the group as he put out the fire.
Everyone made themselves some what comfortable and Naomi sat against the tree Inuyasha resided in above and closed her eyes.
'So this might be easier than I thought. Instead of going back to that village tonight, I will wait til morning and go with them. I have oh suuuch... a good idea. I don't have to worry about father's troops getting in the way because they think Kagome is me. Those idiots. They never thought I would run into a look a like and use my ability to switch our scents. Yup... right before I disappeared I did it. That's why I have no choice but to use them to help me, because now I wear a scent ; basically it's like we switched bodies, but yet we didn't. My kind can only be traced by the power of our aura; we have no specific scent. I can't use my power or that will give it away. Thank goodness for combat skills.'
Shippo got comfortable in Naomi's lap but then realized she didn't have her sleeping bag.
"Kagome...Kagome...," he gave her a shake. "Kagome!"
"Hn...what is it," she snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at Shippo.
"Don't you usually sleep with your sleeping bag? Not on or against the tree like that idiot up there," Shippo pointed up to Inuyasha.
"Shut up! Before I really put you to sleep," Inuyasha grunted from the tree.
"Sleeping bag?" Naomi questioned.
"Yeah sleeping bag. I'll go get it," he dragged Kagome's yellow bag over to the tree and pulled out her bunched up sleeping bag.
"You know Kagome, you've been asking a lot of funny questions."
Naomi stared at the thing for a minute, 'Ramons, sleeping bags, what on earth does Kagome carry. I never heard of any of this stuff.'
Shippo opened the sleeping bag up and invited her over. "Come on Kagome I opened it for you," Naomi crawled into the bag and found it more comfortable than she figured but, then jumped when she felt something cuddling behind her head.
"You're sleep next to me?"
"Of course Kagome. I do every night. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine," Naomi drifted off to sleep with surprising ease.
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Jaken had been running around all day trying to keep Rin from going just anywhere in the palace; some places where forbidden. If Lord Sesshomaru found out Rin was in one of those places, he would be kicked out and fed to an outside demon for sure. After Natsumi had Rin sized and her favorite designs picked out for her new kimonos, she left Jaken in charge to keep her busy, while she and a few other servants worked on the kimonos. Rin was growing and Sesshomaru had plans to get her a new one soon, but since they would be settling down for quite some time, why not have a few made.
"Rin! Come back girl!" Jaken ran after her.
"I just want to pick some flowers for Lord Sesshomaru," Rin ran towards the back of the garden where she saw the prettiest flowers.
"This garden is forbidden!"
"I just want a fe...," Rin stopped when she heard Sesshomaru's voice.
"Rin, I have another garden where you can play, pick flowers, and do as you please. Jaken! Where's Natsumi?"
"Making Rin's kimonos as you wished for, my Lord."
"Take Rin to the garden. I guess I didn't make myself clear when I told her to properly show Rin around the palace then go help make her kimonos."
Rin followed Jaken back inside and down the hall to the other garden and Sesshomaru stormed off to find Natsumi to take his frustration out on. He couldn't have Rin running around just anywhere with their guest coming. With her being human and all, never know what they would try. He had a few things he needed to get prepared; all the guess rooms, seating arrangements in the dining, and so forth. He took a couple of turns and went down a few halls to stop at the room Natsumi and a few others occupied.
"Natsumi."
"Yes my lord?" She stood and bowed her head down before him awaiting his request.
"I told you not Jaken to show Rin around the palace. She has respect for you and will listen to you not Jaken. You know where she can and can not go. I can't have her running all over the place when our guess arrive. If something were to go wrong, you would be punished for it. There are enough people in here to finish what was started. Rin is in the garden with Jaken. Finish showing her around then you can leave Jaken in the care of Rin."
"Do you mean Rin in the care of Jaken, my Lord?"
"Don't question me. You know exactly what I mean. After, prepare the guess rooms and go to Akio for your next orders. Is that clear in your speck for a mind this time?"
"Yes my Lord."
"Now go."
There were only two days left until the other Lords made their appearance with their daughters, and Sesshomaru wanted everything to be just right. He didn't really look forward to it but, he had to take responsibility some time soon. He needed to patrol his lands to make sure no one was stupid enough to invade during this time. He wouldn't have time trying to keep his guess entertained, besides he could use some fresh air. The only thing that would make this some what entertaining would be if one of the daughters truly did have a change that sparked his interested, either way he would have to pick one of them. He hoped the most suitable one to became Lady of the Western Lands wasn't ugly and wouldn't have some kind of disorder. For all he knew, his loyalties to continue tradition and maintain power for the West could be the biggest mistake of his life, but it had to be done.
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For all you anonymous readers out there, your reviews count too. I want to see them.
Anyways I hope this chapter was enjoyable and I'll have the next out shortly.