Notes:I've decided to make every tenth chapter closer to a thousand words instead of just a couple hundred. Okay? Okay.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights or responsibilities of the characters. I must credit Rumiko Takahashi for her lovely creations.

Chapter 10: Burlap

The knife glinted in the sun. Kagome stared, wide eyed, at the man before her, suddenly transformed by his deadly intentions.

"What's going on?" she questioned shakily, although she felt she knew the answer.

He pressed his lips together and his fingers flexed on the hilt. He lowered his head and his eyes seemed to glow as he glared at her from the shadow of his hair. Kagome swallowed and took a step back, but her foot caught on a stone wedged in the dirt and she fell, pain shooting up her spine from her tailbone. Her basket of flowers dropped beside her, scattering a rainbow of colors around her. The red poppy fell on her lap.

He stepped forward and loomed over her. As she watched him tense his muscles, the way she imagined he would before killing an animal for the Queen's table, she let out a strangled cry.

"Why?" she sobbed. She threw her arms in front of her face and squeezed her eyes shut.

When no pain was forthcoming, she opened one eye and saw the Huntsman had paused. He seemed frozen in his spot, and she thought she noticed the slightest tremble in his raised hand.

He lowered his head once again, this time so that his long hair curtained his face from view. She watched his hand, watched as his knuckles turned white.

"Why?" he repeated, a humorless laugh following. "Because the Queen demands your heart."

Horror rushed through Kagome and everything fell into place. Her own stepmother—she had planned Kagome's assassination?

"Well just do it then!" she spat at him. He jerked his head up to meet her angry glare. "Get it over with and go running back to your precious queen like the good little puppy you are."

He narrowed his eyes at her malicious joke. One of his ears twitched at the top of his head as a reminder that he was not fully human. Kagome defiantly met his dangerous gaze.

Suddenly, her eyes softened. She gave him a pleading look. "You don't have to do everything she says, you know."

"It is my duty," he said, strained, "to serve my Queen."

She looked at him with pity and he hated her for it. "What kind of queen would make you murder her own daughter—or stepdaughter—in cold blood?"

Silence answered her and stretched for so long she couldn't tell if it had been hours or only minutes. And what ended the silence was the thump of a ruby-hilted dagger landing at her feet, and the Huntsman collapsing to his knees.

"I can't do it," she heard him mumble into his hands. She thought it sounded more like he was speaking to himself than to her. "I can't kill her."

"That's a good thing," she told him quietly.

He whipped his head up and stared at her incredulously. "Good? You think this is good?"

She spluttered for a response, but he continued.

"You think this is the only time I've killed someone?" He chuckled cruelly. "Let's just say you're experiencing a first with me."

"But—but how could you do that?" she whispered. "It's so…horrible."

He smirked at her, his pervious anguish at his failure forgotten. "Well, call me whatever you want, honey, but it's the truth."

"Don't call me that," she snapped.

He scowled at her as his dark mood returned. "I suggest you start running. You'll want a head start once the Queen realizes you're not dead."

"What?" she said, confused.

He gave her an impatient look. "What, you think you can waltz back into the castle and continue on with your pathetic little life? Ain't happening, wench."

"I don't understand," she told him in a small voice. "Will I ever be able to go back?"

"The only way the Queen would let you back within her walls is if you were stiff, cold, and dead," he told her bluntly. "As it were, I still need to find a heart to bring back to her, and if you don't get smart and leave soon, it may still be yours."

She scrambled to her feet, picking up her fallen basket. She left the flowers scattered at her feet. She turned away, then stopped. She looked at the Huntsman with shiny eyes.

"But…where will I go?" she whimpered as the scary realization crept up on her that she no longer had a safe home to return to.

"The woods would be best," he replied gruffly. He opened his burlap bag and tossed her a bag of small food rations and a canteen. "Now go!"

She clutched the small bag tightly and watched as the Huntsman walked back toward the direction of the castle. She wondered how he would trick the Queen.

As he disappeared over the side of a hill, into the sunlight, she whispered, "Goodbye, Inuyasha."

She took a deep breath to gather her courage and turned towards the dark trees. She took a few steps towards the forest and terror suddenly seized her that she would be caught if she didn't move faster. She broke into a run and the sunlight was cut off by the thick canopy.

Prompt: Anger
Words: 861