Feudal Diamond

Part Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the associated characters. I do however, own Kazuki and Amaya.

Slipping Away

"I give up," Inuyasha relented and fell to his knees as Kagome put her arms around him.

It had been five years since that terrible day. No one could believe that Inuyasha would ever quit in anything, but that was then.

He and Kagome had returned home to their small, seaside shack. They hadn't seen Miroku, Sango, Shippou, Kirara or the four kids (Kichiro,11, Minako and Daiki,9, and Cho,5) either.

At the moment, Kagome leant onto the window sill of the small house. She watched her husband as he washed his face down at the water. He had just come back from another of his 'expeditions'.

You see, Inuyasha had not really given up. Everyday for the past five years he was still searching for his daughter. He would disappear for days while looking for Amaya but each time came back without his love. He just couldn't accept that she might be dead.

"Inuyasha," Kagome called sweetly from the house and the hanyou looked up.

"What do you want?" Inuyasha barked angrily back at his wife and walked over. Inuyasha was always upset and tempermental whenever he came back from his searches. In his head he knew there was no point of looking everyday for her but he would never admit it. He just couldn't get a lead, there was no scent, no demonic aura, nothing to help him in his quest.

"Calm down, calm down. Do you want some food? You're probably tired right?" Kagome said quietly and stroked the side of Inuyasha's face. She noticed the extra lines in his face and the bitter look in his eyes.

"Sure," he said, the anger gone from his voice. He squeezed Kagome's hands and entered the house. Kagome set a light lunch down in front of him and he wolfed it down. Kagome giggled while picking at her own meal.

"What?" Inuyasha said, laughing too as he looked up his face covered with bits of food.

"Oh, nothing. Just reminiscing."

Inuyasha wiped his face with his hands and replied, "I wish we had a well here that brought us back in time some more."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Kagome asked, puzzled by this abstract comment.

"You know how the Bone Eater's well goes from here to the future time where you were born right? What we need is a well that goes from this time to five years ago."

Kagome held her breath as she began to understand. She put hands on her husband's shoulders, "Don't talk like that. We can't do anything now and it's been five years. We need to accept she's gone. We have to or it'll haunt us all of our lives."

"I know Kagome, I know…I just loved her too much and I gave up. I should have fought longer, I shouldn't have pressured our friends and put Cho in danger like I did."

"It was my fault too Inuyasha, I wanted to follow you. Don't just blame yourself for this," Kagome consoled.

Inuyasha dropped his chop sticks onto the ground and embraced Kagome as he had done many times. His daughter had been the most prescious thing in the world to him but she was gone now and he regretted his choices, now, he wouldn't lose Kagome no matter what.

Deep in the Great Oracle's lair…

It had been three months since the death of the Great Oracle Hiroshi the 5th and the wedding preparations were in full swing. Lord Kazuki and His Lady Kazuko were to be married on the Lord's birthday, as is tradition.

Servants ran down the halls of the underground city, carrying different items or hurrying messages for demons of higher rank. The main hall was being decorated lavishly. The food would be prepared carefully and the Lord and His Lady would have the best treatment possible.

At the moment, Kazuko stood on a wooden stool as a crowd of noisy female demons poked and pinched her as they fitted a beautiful silk kimono for her. The demons had stolen the kimono from a rich princess but it was a tad too big for the 8 year old Kazuko.

"Ow!" Kazuko yelped when a pin jabbed her suddenly in the thigh.

"Sorry Lady Kazuko, so sorry."

"We'll be done sooner if you stop squirming so."

"You're going to look so pretty in this dress, it's worth the pain."

Kazuko sighed and looked down at the gown. It was pale green with a silver and sakura pink brocade. On her feet she wore zori stolen from Above too. Kazuko had gotten used to wearing all these fancy clothes.

After another half hour of torture, the dressed was pinned and the ladies let Kazuko go play. She ran down the halls of the royal section of the underground city and to the room of her soon to be husband.

Kazuki, who was 11 years old (on the wedding he would be 12) was quite the handsome young man. His green hair was still messy as ever and his yellow horns poked out the top of his head like Kazuko's dog ears. He had a wide, sometimes silly grin and delightful manner around Kazuko. When he had to deal with the royal matters he became very serious. Before Kazuko came Kazuki had always been that way. Now, she lit up his dark world.

"Kazuki! I'm finished! Where are you Kazuki?" Kazuko called sweetly as she skipped along. She peeked into his bedroom and there was no one there. She looked in the children's play room and again, there was no one there.

"Kazuki? Why are you hiding from me! Come out and let's play together."

When Kazuko walked around a corner in the hall, she shrieked as Kazuki jumped out at her.

"Finally you're done. I was getting really bored waiting for you," he said gleefully.

"I'm sorry. The servants wanted to fit my dress. It's very pretty Kazuki, the prettiest dress they've stolen yet!"

"Yay! I'm happy that you'll be pretty Kazuko," Kazuki said and hugged his friend.

The friends walked together to the main royal meeting room and stood, holding hands and watching the chaos of preparations.

"Kazuki," Kazuko said softly, "Does being married mean we can't be friends anymore? Do we have to love each other?"

Kazuki laughed quietly, "No. I don't think so. When my parents were still alive they weren't in love, they weren't even friends! I don't know if it's going to be the same for us."

"I hope we're still friends. I can't remember my parents but I have a feeling they really loved each other and were good friends too," Kazuko said worriedly, clutching Kazuki's hand.

"Let's be like them then, okay?" Kazuki said warmly and Kazuko put her head on his shoulder.

"Aren't I too young to be in love?" Kazuko said, her brows knitted together with worry.

Kazuki shook his head and said wisely, "You're never too young for love."

Translation Note: Hiroshi means generous.

Author's Note: Here we are! Back with Part Two of Feudal Diamond. I'm really excited. I know this chapter is pretty late in coming but our computer has been down for a week and I've been busy every night after school! Oh, the life of a teenager.