Slave Turned Guardian

by DiscipleOfAnime

Seven years passed since he was a slave and upon saving a family that turns out to be not only royalty, but they are of the Higurashi family that have ruled over the kingdom for centruies. He goes from slave to a guardian. Chapter 7 is up!

4. The Princess & The Bodyguard

Chapter 4: The Princess & The Bodyguard

Okay it's up and I will try and get to work on the next chapter. Thank you all who've reviewed and I'll get the next chapter up ASAP.

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*8 1/2 Years Later *

Inuyasha had spent so far nine wonderful years as the bodyguard to the Higurashi family and was loving it and removed his collar as well to show that he no longer sees himself the slave he used to be. Over the years Hana remarried to a Navy Admiral and had her second child, a boy they named Kohaku. Sadly though Hana died giving birth to Kohaku and the boy's father died when an ocean demon attacked his ship and killed everyone on board.

Sango was only five when it happened, but was still saddened by the events. Shuhan adopted Sango and Kohaku having both take the name Higurashi. Takeshi and Satsuki agreed that one child was enough for them, but eventually the two moved to a separate city from their the main family taking Bankotsu with them. Takeshi felt it was time to leave anyway though he still keeps in touch and they do come by to visit whenever possible.

Shuhan and Nodoka made the best of the home now, but it felt different now that Hana, Takeshi, Satsuki, and Bankotsu were now gone.

Inuyasha was still the bodyguard protecting the family from danger. There were very few assassination attempts, but most were handled by the soldiers since the assassins were humans and rarely any demons came close to the castle boundaries. He was asked by Shuhan to teach the children to defend themselves when they turned eight years old, both girls were doing fine for children, but Sango was getting the hang of the training more. Inuyasha felt that this was more natural for her. Kagome still couldn't beat Sango yet, but he felt that she was getting closer to her older cousin she just needed more time.

* Castle Grounds *

Inuyasha was outside in the courtyard in a meditating position looking out at the blue ocean from the high elevation caused by the castle. He liked being outside since the ocean breeze was soothing and the scenery only added to the relaxing feeling that was coming over him. His ears twitched when he heard a familiar sound, smiling and then sighing to himself he thought, 'Does she ever stop to rest?'

Suddenly bursting out of the bushes was a eight 1/2 year old girl with long black hair, honey brown eyes, and lightly tanned skin. She was wearing green hakama pants, and a short sleeved white kosode shirt. The little girl was swinging a small wooden sword wildly running at Inuyasha from behind.

Inuyasha lightly laughed to himself and he only turned around slowly grabbing the sword mid swing telling the girl, "Kagome it works better when you swing gracefully and not like your trying to swat a fly."

Kagome puffed her cheeks out in a pout then stuck her tongue out at him, "I'll get you next time!" Inuyasha lightly tugged the sword out of her hand gently turning to her still in his meditating position, "I'm betting you will. Why aren't you resting?" Kagome still had her pouty face on and she sat in Inuyasha's lap saying, "I don't wanna rest! I wanna keep getting stronger like Sango!"

Inuyasha scratched the back of his head sighing, Sango had a few more months of training than Kagome and was really good as far as a nine year old goes. Kagome however was jealous that her cousin was getting so much better in such a time. He placed his hand atop her head and told her, "Don't worry Princess you'll get stronger, but that won't happen if you push your body to it's limits."

Kagome kept pouting and remained seated. Inuyasha sighed and knew she was being difficult again, "Well Princess have you any idea what your going to wear for the ball tonight?" Kagome spun around in his lap happily saying, "Mommy got me a brand new kimono and I can't wait to wear it! Hey Inuyasha are you going to the ball?"

"I can't Princess. Dogs aren't allowed at such an occasion." said Inuyasha. Kagome had a sad face saying, "I'm sure daddy will want you to go. We just have to ask him."

Inuyasha brought his hand up extending his index finger and waving it back and forth, "Now, now Princess this is for royalty and high ranking military men. After all the King of Aether, Saiseki Shikigami is coming to the island."

Kagome got up from his lap and put both her hands on her hips saying in a matter-of-fact tone, "That won't do." She grabbed Inuyasha's hand and continued by saying, "You have to go. Come on we'll ask daddy if you can go." She tried to pull Inuyasha's hand, but the dog demon wasn't even budging despite the little girl using all of her strength to do so.

He couldn't help but smile at the little girl's determination to get him to go to this event. She let go of his hand and ran behind him and tried to push him into the direction of the door leading into the castle.

"Kagome what are you doing?"

Inuyasha and Kagome looked up and saw Shuhan walking over to them with his ever bright smile. Inuyasha stood up and bowed to the king, "Good afternoon my king." Kagome ran over to her father and jumped at him. Shuhan caught his daughter asking, "How was training today?"

Kagome giggled and told her father, "Inuyasha taught Sango and I how to use bows, but it was with kid's toys."

Shuhan smiled a bit more saying, "You still are a kid. We can't have the two princesses using real weapons just yet." Kagome again pouted and was put back down on the ground. Kagome grabbed her father's hand and asked, "Daddy can Inuyasha come to the ball tonight?"

Inuyasha immediately interrupted, "Princess it's alright the ball won't be any different if I was there."

"Now Inuyasha I don't think that's right. If Kagome wants you to go that badly then won't you go if I invite you?" said Shuhan.

Kagome left her father's side and ran to Inuyasha intertwining her fingers together, putting on her puppy dog eyes, sticking out her lip as if she was about to cry, and saying in her baby voice, "Pwetty pwease will you go?"

Inuyasha was to late to look away and was trapped in the little girl's stare. 'Dammit I hate when she does that.' thought Inuyasha. He looked away for a moment, but his eyes drifted back to her to see that her face hadn't changed. He tried to fight it but eventually caved, "Okay I get it Princess, I'll go." Kagome's face turned to a wide smile and she shouted, "Yeah!"

She looked at her dad and said, "I'm going to find mommy and get ready for the ball okay?" Shuhan nodded and watched his daughter run off. Inuyasha looked at the king and asked, "How does she do that?"

Shuhan shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. I know that daughters have this unstoppable power over their father's that make it very difficult to say 'no' to them. The day you find out how to counter that look Inuyasha you'll need to train me." The two men started walking to the castle and Inuyasha said, "We should ask the Queen. After all it doesn't affect her." Both of them began to laugh at that.

* A Few Hours Later *

Inuyasha was in his room getting dressed after taking a bath. Since his stay the King and Queen bought him many clothes to wear and a few formal wear for special occasions, this was something he was grateful for. For this occasion he put on a red kimono, but it had a white honeycomb and flower crest design at the collar and sleeves. Tied around his waist was a yellow sash with a blue tidal wave design at the ends and for footwear he had black pointed shoes. He tied his hair into a low pony tail and was now finished getting ready.

His door opened up and he saw Myoga walk in. Inuyasha and Myoga were the only two demons working in the castle and had a kind of father son bond since the flea has centuries more years than the young dog demon and he never minded him coming into his room unannounced. Myoga said, "You look dashing Inuyasha, so you decided to attend the ball anyway despite your earlier protests."

"I wouldn't have gone if Kagome hadn't insisted. She beat me again with that puppy dog look she does when she really wants something." Inuyasha said with a smile. Myoga knew what he was talking about and has known about it for a long time, "Yes Inuyasha, you have told me numerous times about how she defeats you with that look."

After Inuyasha made sure he had everything he grabbed a decorative sword that was given to him and strapped it to his waist, "I have to go to the castle's main doors and greet the guests. See ya around Myoga."

Myoga told Inuyasha, "Not tonight. I'm working the kitchen and will be there the whole night, so I'll see you tomorrow."

Inuyasha nodded and said before leaving, "Don't work to hard." After Inuyasha left Myoga left the room as well to the kitchen to help out.

* Front Doors *

Shuhan and his wife Nodoka were at the base of the stairs greeting their guests, many of the butlers and maids were leading the guests to the ballroom. Inuyasha stood off to the side along with Generals Choe and Hakan, despite the three being in the ballroom their whole basic purpose were to stop any trouble that might occur. The generals were wearing formal red kimonos with some chest armors.

Hakan whispered to Inuyasha, "Anything out of the ordinary?" Inuyasha took a few good whiffs in the air and told the two generals, "I don't smell anything out of the ordinary, but the wind is carrying the scent of the demons attending tonight. I'm guessing they just came into port."

Choe told the two, "I'll go greet them halfway. Take care of things here." Inuyasha and Hakan nodded and watched the general leave. Hakan told Inuyasha that he was going to go tell the king about the arrival of the Aether king and his entourage.

Inuyasha stood by himself and was still keeping vigilant, but the smell of lavenders caught his nose and he turned around and saw Kagome wearing a pink kimono with white sakura petal designs going down the left sleeve, she had some sandals on, and her hair was tied in a bun and two chopstick decorations in her hair. She ran up next to him saying politely, "Hello Inuyasha."

Inuyasha grinned and said, "Well hello Princess. You look beautiful today." Kagome blushed a bit and asked, "Really?"

He nodded and asked, "Where's Sango and Kohaku?"

Kagome told him, "Sango is with Lady Kaede inside getting the rest of the decorations put up and Kohaku just went to mom and dad to greet the visitors." Inuyasha understood and told Kagome to join her parents to so he could keep a close eye out for the bad guys. He watched the little girl skip off to where her parents and Kohaku were standing at. Sometime went by and eventually the king of Aether appeared in a large carriage.

The driver got out of his seat and opened the door to let the king out. Saiseki Shikigami was a lion demon. He was old though, he had a fairly large nose, a few liver spots on his forehead, his light brown hair was slicked back but had a puff to it (has a few gray strands), a few noticeable wrinkles, his eyes were auburn brown with black slits, and only one fang was visible since the other was broken. The king was wearing a gold and brown coat and breeches, with a large cloak draping down from his shoulders with a gold lion's design in it. He wore dark grey trousers beneath the breeches, tucked neatly into his curled shoes.

Shuhan walked up to the old demon shaking his hand, "It's been a long time Saiseki."

Saiseki nodded and replied in a gruff voice, "Yes to long my friend. I'm sorry to hear about your sister and her husband a very unfortunate incident."

Shuhan accepted his words of kindness, he looked to Nodoka and took her hand kissing the back of it, "And you my queen get younger and younger as the years pass."

Nodoka lightly giggled joking back, "Surely my king your sight has degraded with age."

Saiseki responded, "My queen my words are all true I assure you." He looked down at Kagome asking, "Might this be the little Princess named Kagome?"

Nodoka nodded and brought Kagome to stand in front of her, "Yes this is our daughter Kagome. Kagome say hello to the king."

Kagome folded her hands in front of her and bowed, "Hello King Shikigami." Saiseki smiled and said, "Such a polite and formal little one you have my queen and her beauty matches your own."

The demon's eyes drifted to the little boy before him. Kohaku was a small four year old boy wearing a green kimono with a single black stripe going across the arms of his sleeves. He had long brown hair tied in a high ponytail and freckles over his nose, the little boy hid behind his uncle's leg. Saiseki said, "Oh I'm sorry for scaring you my boy."

Shuhan explained, "He's still young and is afraid of people he doesn't know. I assure you my king it isn't your appearance that has my nephew frightened."

After a small talk the group started walking up the few steps to the front door. Saiseki stopped however when he saw Inuyasha and asked Shuhan, "That man there smells like a dog."

"Well Inuyasha is a dog demon and he's been in our service for nine years." explained Shuhan.

Saiseki complemented, "Good taste. Dog demons are the more loyal of the demons, they are very good protectors as well, but they are a rare sight now... especially human ones."

Inuyasha was called over by his king to meet Saiseki. The two demons met face to face and Inuyasha respectfully bowed to the Aether king.

Saiseki asked, "Tell me boy how old you are?"

Inuyasha responded, "I'm eighty-one my king."

"Eighty-one. Your still very young for a demon." said Saiseki. Inuyasha didn't respond back to the king and watched as Shuhan and Nodoka walked inside with the king.

Inuyasha felt someone tug on his sleeve and he looked down seeing Kagome was the one pulling on his sleeve so he knelt down to hear what she had to say. Kagome asked him, "Your older than daddy?"

Inuyasha smiled and told her, "Yes Princess I am. Here is something funny, in dog years I'm actually five hundred and sixty-seven years old." Kagome showed a shocked expression that Inuyasha could only laugh at. Kohaku walked next to Inuyasha and held his arms up signifying that he wanted to be on Inuyasha's shoulders. He did so by standing up and picking up Kohaku and placing him on his shoulders. Inuyasha told the two, "Well let's go inside now it's going to get cold out here."

Kagome nodded and grabbed ahold of Inuyasha's hakama pant leg and followed him inside.

All the guests arrived and went into the ballroom to mingle amongst each other. The two kings were in a warned off area for only those of political power or royalty while the rest of the room mingled family members that came, the few demons that arrived with the king and the soldiers who were invited.

Inuyasha stayed in the more crowded end with the families and other such demons and was joined by Kagome and Sango. Sango was an inch taller than Kagome, she had long brown hair tied in a bun with chopstick decorations in them, a pink and green kimono with flower designs on the collar, and some sandals. Kohaku went with his aunt and uncle to see if he could talk them into letting him stay up later than he normally would.

He was seated at a table and watched as a few of the guests talked to Kagome and Sango about how pretty their kimonos were and other such things. He was a bit bored and didn't really like to come to such events, he's gone to a few when the king insisted that he attend and when he did he never really talked to anyone and instead would sneak out to patrol the outside of the building.

Sango ran up to Inuyasha and asked, "Inuyasha is it okay if I have some cake before dinner?" Inuyasha looked over at the table that had elegant food laid out for the guests, but he knew Sango had a sweet tooth and liked to have something sweet before dinner. He scratched his head and told her, "You might wanna ask your auntie if it's okay." Sango nodded and ran off to go find her aunt to ask her and Kagome left with her older cousin to ask if she could have some too.

Inuyasha watched to make sure she made it to her aunt and she did. Inuyasha then just sat and waited and a woman approached him saying, "Hello sir." He looked up and greeted the woman back.

She sat down at Inuyasha's table and said to him, "You don't have a date to this occasion?" Inuyasha shook his head telling her, "No I'm working right now."

"Oh what do you do?" she asked. Inuyasha responded, "I'm King Shuhan's bodyguard and I'm just looking out for any trouble that God forbid should occur."

She was quite beautiful and seemed she could get any man she wanted and he noted on her left ring finger that she was married. Inuyasha thought, 'Is she that kind of woman?' The two continued to talk for awhile and the musicians that were hired by Nodoka began playing a different tune.

Inuyasha noticed it and he looked over and saw Kagome had just returned and was glaring at the woman sitting at the table with him, but the woman was oblivious to it. Kagome walked over to Inuyasha taking his sleeve asking, "Inuyasha come on let's dance!" Before he could say anything she already had her puppy dog eyes out and was insistent that he dance, but he knew that it was to get him away from the woman sitting next to him. He gave in and stood up and said his goodbye to the woman following Kagome to the dance floor.

When they got there Inuyasha was much more taller than her, but they still tried anyway. Her small hands were in his bigger hands and he was a bit hunched as well. He could see that Kagome had a sad look on her face and kept looking to her left and right as if making sure everything was safe. This wasn't the first time that he's seen her like this when he goes with either the queen or king into town and he's escorting him and the kids Kagome is always either standing right beside him or holding his hand and keeps looking around. He figured out that she's making sure no other woman approaches him and he found it to be very flattering. After awhile the song ended and so did their dance, Inuyasha bowed to the little princess saying, "Thank you for the dance Princess."

Kagome grabbed his hand saying, "I'm hungry, but I can't see all the food on the table since it's too high up. Can you help me?" Inuyasha sighed thinking, 'She's gonna make sure no woman talks to me tonight.' He agreed and let her lead him to the dinner table. Once they got there he helped her get all of her food and he saw Nodoka and Sango at the table getting some food. Kagome let go of his hand to go up to Sango to get some food.

Nodoka walked over to Inuyasha asking, "I saw what transpired just now. She's marking you as territory I see." Nodoka couldn't help but giggle. Inuyasha smiled and told the queen, "Yeah she's being very vigilant today. I was talking to a woman earlier and Kagome cut in and asked me to dance."

The queen looked at her daughter and said, "Kagome has taken a great liking to you Inuyasha, so it's only natural that any woman that tries to converse with you Kagome will be there to do something to break it up." Kagome and Sango returned and both asked Inuyasha, "Hey can we go out on the balcony and eat?"

Inuyasha looked at Nodoka and saw her give her approval on it. Inuyasha told the girls, "Okay let's go." Both the girls jumped up happily and followed Inuyasha out to the balcony so they could eat while look out at the stars.

* 10:00 p.m. *

Inuyasha was carrying a sleeping Kohaku in one arm and a sleeping Kagome in the other and Sango was walking next to him rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes. The three shared a room and were to share one until they got older so it was easier for Inuyasha to watch over the three children and their room was a few doors down from his own. Sango opened the door for him and they walked inside. Their room was the same size as his except that their beds were twin sized and there were three of them leaned up against three of the walls. Inuyasha first placed Kagome and Kohaku into their beds first and he went over to Sango and helped her out of her kimono and untangled her hair getting her into her pajamas. After dressing Sango he watched her crawl into bed and drift off to sleep.

Inuyasha walked over to Kohaku's bed, then Kagome's bed putting both of the kids into their pajamas. After making sure that they were all sleeping he sat down on the floor leaning his back against Kagome's bed making sure nothing would come into their room like a loyal guard dog would.

Whenever they had events like this he usually needed to stay up well into the morning never getting any sleep until the following night, but it never bothered him even if he did nap he'd wake up easily thanks to his hearing. Relaxing listening as the wind blew past the house it was relaxing to hear a soothing sound like that, then he picked up the sound of rustling and he looked to one of the beds and saw Kagome up rubbing her eyes trying to wake up.

He got up and told her, "Lay back down Princess it's late and you need your sleep." Kagome shook her head and lazily said, "No… I'm not, I'm (YYYaaawwwnnn) wide awake." Inuyasha sat on her bed and rubbed the top of her head trying to get the girl to relax a little more and go back to sleep. Kagome laid down but wasn't closing her eyes just yet and Inuyasha remained seated on her bed looking out her window at the stars.

Kagome leaned up and asked him, "Inuyasha?"

The dog demon looked at the little girl who just called out his name, "What is it Princess?" Kagome trying to fight off going to sleep by constantly rubbing her eyes was losing the battle. Kagome looked up at Inuyasha asking, "Are you gonna stay with us forever? Your not gonna leave us right?"

Inuyasha tilted his head a little bit, then told her, "I'm not going anywhere Princess." Kagome smiled and crawled out of her bed and laid her head down on his lap whispering, "Cross your heart?"

He brought his right index finger to make an 'x' mark over where his heart was repeating, "Cross my heart. Now time for you to get some sleep you three have to get up to go to Kaede's class tomorrow and you'll need to get smarter if your gonna be the queen someday."

Kagome closed her eyes and told him slowly falling asleep, "I... don't... wanna... be..." not being able to finish since she now fell asleep. Inuyasha lightly picked her up and laid her back under her covers makng sure she was asleep he returned to sitting next to her bed standing guard. This family gave him everything he could need and he would kill anyone who tried to harm his family. He looked over at Kagome one last time and said to himself, "Don't wanna be queen huh?"

He closed his eyes and took himself a nap in his seated position still aware of his surroundings.

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(A/N)

How was this chapter? Good? Well I hope you'll let me know how I'm doing and if you like the direction I'm taking for this story. I'll get another chapter up ASAP and hopefully that will be real soon.

-Stay Gold!