Once upon a time, in a far away land (more accurately in the Shikon Kingdom), lived three princess and their parents. One of this princesses was a stuck up brat named Ayumi. She had long black hair and dopey brown eyes. She was kind of pretty, if you liked them dumb. The other one was named Kikyou. She was pretty with long black hair and grey eyes and pale skin. She was the kindest of them all, never stopped helping people in need. And then there's me. Kagome. I don't particularly consider myself as pretty as Kikyou or as weird as Ayumi. I have straight black hair with ocean blue eyes. I also swear I'm adopted. I'm not dopey like Ayumi, but in no way am I as kind and caring as Kikyou. I'm more of when you piss me off, you run for your life.
Unfortunately, as all princesses do, when we reached marriage age, our parents, the kind and honourable King Louis and Queen Kun-Loon, started looking for pitiful, I mean eligible bachelors for us to wed. Of course they pick the wimpiest ones. By my sixteenth, Kikyou's seventeenth, and Ayumi's eighteenth, they pretty much got the hint that we would most likely be picking out our own husbands.
But you have to realize that was after several of my pranks and Kikyou's kind hearted putdowns. Ayumi probably would have married the first one who asked, but we didn't want her to be miserable. We, well Kikyou loves her fully, it's basically just me, care enough not to make her miserable, if only because she would make the rest of us miserable in return. I really don't like Ayumi.
Anyways, I've just been called into the throne room because the Takahashi's are here. They're from a neighboring kingdom. King Inutashio and Queen Izayoi are alright, but they must have been cursed because their sons are just annoyances.
Sesshomaru, the oldest at 22, is an ice-prick. His usual word of choice (aka most of his sentences) was Hn. Apparently we're expected to speak asshole. Ayumi's been lusting after him for years. It's disgusting. *Shudder* Inuyasha, who is 21, is an immature little poop head. However he and Kikyou have a thing going on and it strikes a cord within me that I could have sworn I tore out long ago. And then there's Naraku, at 19, who has the creepiest crush on me. His red eyes would have been a turn on, if he didn't scream pedo. EW!
I'm actually fairly certain that this is another marriage attempt, but hopefully, they won't pair me with the spider-pedo. Ayumi should get that honor, I don't care about her that much. She can have the creepy spider.
"Kagome?" My mother called annoyed. "Are you listening?" I don't know why she ever asks that. She already knows that I'm not. All she's doing is wasting her breath. But then when would Ayumi get in her pitiful jabs.
"Mother, that would imply she has a brain." Ayumi pointed out delicately. She tries to play intelligent and we tend to humor her. I say we, I mean them.
"Ayumi, what have we told you about playing grown-up?" I asked sweetly. "You can't pull it off." I sneered at her pretentious manner. "Yes Mother dearest, I was listening. Hopefully it ended with Ayumi's being sent off to Timbuktu." I flashed a winning grin.
"Kagome," My mother chided. "We have guests," She gestured to the Takahashi's. "Be polite to your beloved sisters." I rolled my eyes.
"If I must, Mother," I snorted and went to stand next Kikyou, as was my station in the court. I was the youngest, therefore I was the last. "Hey Kikyou, why are they here?"
"Good morning Kagome," She greeted. "The King, Queen, and Princes are here for us to become betrothed. You, my lovey, are paired with his royal highness, Prince Sesshomaru. I am paired with my love, Inuyasha, and Ayumi is paired with Naraku."
"Well, isn't this jolly? Kukuku." I heard his slimy voice from the other side of the room. "Hello Princess Kagome, it's so very lovely to see you again." I shuddered inwardly. The spider-pedo gave me the creeps.
I smiled weakly at the creepy spider. "You as well, Prince Naraku." His gaze that traveled over my entire body made me want to go bathe. 10 times over. With a bunch of harsh soap. I looked away as soon as my manner, drilled into me, would let me. I glanced at Sesshomaru, my apparent future husband, who appeared as stoic and stuck-up as ever.
"Alis volabo mihi Dominus."(1) I murmured as quiet as possible. Sesshomaru was much too icy for my taste. I didn't appreciate being thought of as a lesser being, but it was better than a piece of meat. Maybe Sesshomaru would be nicer when we married, because I wasn't going to ruin Kikyou's relationship because I wanted to be selfish. I can be nice when I want to be.
I turned my attention back to Father. "Kagome, will you please leave us?" He asked. "We need to speak with your sisters and their beaus." I sighed mentally. He never talked to me, as though I was some kind of disappointment. "Perhaps you may take this time to pack."
"Yes, Father." I answered, probably giving Mother a heart attack. 'I hope it did.' I thought viciously. 'I want her to suffer for this horrible calamity she has bestowed on my poor soul.' I walked out of the throne room, as graciously as I could. It might have been one of the hardest things I've ever done.
In my bedroom, I began throwing things. "I don't want to marry Prince Icicle. I don't want to leave home. I want to be left alone." I sneered at the wall, imagining my mother's face on it, right before I threw a pillow at it.
"I could run away," I mused. "I'm sure I could find some work as a maid or better yet, a blacksmith. Just chop off my hair and apprentice my self." I sighed. It was possible, just improbable. Most blacksmith's wouldn't accept apprentices as old as me. Except maybe the one in the Feudal Kingdom. Totosai, I believe. He was getting older, but from the gossip, none of the boys in his town were worthy of becoming his apprentice.
I sighed again. "It's worth a try." I smiled slightly and dug in the bottom of my closet. I brought out the uniform I wore when leaving the castle unnoticed. I put it on carefully and braided my hair tightly. I tied it back and cut it off. The braid fell neatly to the ground and I picked it up and put it on my bed.
I felt slightly giddy as I wrote my farewell note. I was really doing what I dreamed of. I crept out of my room and quickly fled down the servants stairwell. I donned a cap and kept my face down as I neared the castle walls. I was outside of the castle by about a mile when the trumpets sounded and the gates locked down.
I smiled slightly as the wind brushed across my neck. It wasn't Kagome anymore. It was Souta, Souta Higurashi.
Dun dun dun! I finished the first chapter of the newly named 'Of Princesses and Princes.' I won't officially change the name for a while. I originally had about 20k words for the old story, but it went in an odd direction. So I'm rewriting it. I will leave the original up before this chapter, like this will be Chapter 3. But it's still the beginning of a new story.
Bye! ~FS