Chapter 24: Seeing The Queen
Miroku paced back in front of Kagome's Hospital Chamber a second time. Luckily, Inuyasha had returned with Myoga in a matter of one minute, enough time for the flea to suck the poison out from Kagome's body.
The right shoji door opened and Inuyasha poked his head out. Miroku looked at him curiously and the hanyou stepped out into the hallway.
"My Father wishes to meet you," Inuyasha said.
Miroku's eyes had widened considerably. Why would the Lord of the Western Region wish to meet him? Nodding his head as he gripped his golden staff tightly, Miroku walked forward and followed the younger lord into the room. The shoji door was closed behind him and violet eyes set on the demon sitting in bed. The monk bowed respectfully and InuTaisho nodded his head in return.
The youkai's amber eyes were filled with kindness and pride. His lips curled into a knowing smirk and the posture he sat in made him seem regal and not at all looking as if he was harmed. Miroku inwardly cringed at a whimper behind the divider and he didn't miss the guilt that flickered through the Lord's eyes either.
"Come Master Monk," InuTaisho said with a hint of amusement, "I do not bite."
Miroku smiled weakly as Inuyasha smirked next to him. Walking forward, he stopped only a foot from the bed and bowed once more.
"You wished to see me," Miroku stated.
InuTaisho smiled, "Yes…I thought it fit to meet my newest monk and both my sons' friends."
Miroku smiled widely to the statement as Inuyasha growled behind him. The older youkai gave his son an amused stare and the growling ceased.
"What is your name Master Monk?" The Lord asked with interest.
"Miroku…Miroku Hoshi from the county of Musashi," The monk introduced.
"And why is it that you came to the Western Region?"
Miroku frowned sadly, "My family was killed by the Sin Kingdom and I have been left alone to care for myself. I am in need of money and a home and I came upon this Palace, wishing to earn a job."
"I see," InuTaisho said, "Then you are welcome to stay. Myoga tells me that your abilities have come to great use."
Miroku bowed, "Thank you Lord InuTaisho."
"What I have also noticed," InuTaisho continued with a smirk, "Is that you seem to be rather close with Lady Kagome."
Miroku's eyes widened. Was the King suggesting that he held a love interest with the girl? The monk tried not to choke; he only thought of Kagome as a dear sister, his heart belonged to her friend, the beautiful demon slayer who currently lived in the depths of the forest. On the same note, he wasn't supposed to know Lady Kagome either. He was still in secret.
"Lady Kagome is a kind woman," Miroku replied, "I believe, with her being alone and in a new atmosphere rather than her home, that she needed a friend. Being that she is also a miko, I have taken the opportunity to help her control her abilities. I am only helping her as any friend would."
"You are a kind monk," InuTaisho smiled.
"Keh!" Inuyasha huffed.
The divider opened and the nurse walked through, her silver hair held in a long braid, amber eyes scanning over the members of the room and purple marking streaking her face delicately. She walked over to stand before them as Myoga hopped off her shoulder and landed on the bed.
"Master Myoga had managed to suck all the poison out, and just barely," The youkai nurse replied, "However, this poison was stronger than I had ever seen. It is called miasma and is very dangerous to the body, even to youkai. Lady Kagome although will be fine and I'll ask our doctor to help create an antidote just in case something like this happens again."
InuTaisho nodded, "How long will it be until she recovers from the poison?"
The nurse smiled, "Because of her miko abilities, it managed to purify some of the miasma and only kept it in one area, until she suddenly lost control. Since it had not spread throughout her whole body, she shall be fine in a day or two, depending on her tolerance level. But she will still need to stay off her feet for about a week so her wounds may heal. She will be asleep for some time, but when she wakes I shall call for you."
InuTaisho smiled at the news, "Thank you Nurse Koruna."
The nurse smiled appreciatively and walked back to the divider. After it closed behind her, a silence lapsed among the room.
"I believe her tolerance level shall be very high," Myoga said through the silence, "She shall be awake by tonight or tomorrow afternoon at the most."
"How do you know Myoga?" InuTaisho asked.
"She had experienced the miasma before…" Myoga answered.
"Really?"
"Yes," Myoga answered, "I suppose it was the time of three years ago, that Naraku mentioned, when she had received her first scar. When I drank out the poison, I had also drunk out remnants of aged toxin."
"How did it not affect her?" Inuyasha asked suddenly.
"It seemed a potion had been used and her purifying magic had kept it at bay…She is a powerful miko," Myoga said, "She had been through more than what her age can imagine…A strange but strong girl indeed."
Lord InuTaisho yawned and he chuckled slightly.
"It seems I must rest more," He stated, "We'll talk more later."
"Yes Lord InuTaisho," Myoga said as he hopped towards the door, "I shall return to my duties now."
Miroku and Inuyasha nodded their heads and left the room, closing the door tightly behind them. Inuyasha was about to walk off as well, but Miroku had remembered Kagome's words.
"Lord Inuyasha," Miroku called.
Inuyasha sighed quite loudly and turned around to face him, eyes holding fatigue, "What?"
"I would like to suggest that I see your Mother to make sure she herself is not being controlled. Will you come with me?"
Inuyasha's eyes snapped open with alert with mention of his Mother, "Yeah, let's go."
Miroku smiled faintly and walked behind Inuyasha as they hurriedly made their way to the Lady's bedchambers. When they had reached the place, Miroku was a bit relieved to see that no guards stood at the door like they had usually done during the time of his stay. Inuyasha must have noticed too, for his eyes had narrowed with suspicion.
With haste, Inuyasha pushed open the door and walked inside. Miroku followed and watched as the hanyou quietly lit the lanterns to allow light in the bedroom. The Buddhist Monk didn't waste time to stand over at the bed and look over the Queen of the Western Region. Inuyasha took to the other side and leaned down beside her, a frown marring his lips.
She was indeed a beautiful woman, just as the rumors had said. Her face was a creamy color as she lay in peaceful sleep under the covers. She had long black hair that grew past her hips and her aura felt at calming peace. At least she was alive, her chest rising and falling steadily.
Inuyasha did not speak, even as Miroku pulled back the covers to check for hidden spells or sutras on her form.
"It seems she has been asleep for three years," Miroku whispered into the quiet room.
Inuyasha was silent for a moment as he sniffed her curiously.
"She does not smell of serious illness anymore," He pointed out, "But it's still there…"
Miroku felt the woman's aura and only a small trace of illness was on her form. The woman would be fine, and probably just needed an herbal tea to get herself better.
Frowning, Miroku checked around her body and found no such luck in any sutra or ofuda. In the woman's aura, he could feel a hint of evil energy, but was not able to reach past it or have the power to purify it. He needed Kagome's help, but she was sick in bed at the moment.
"We cannot wake her yet," Miroku whispered.
"Why?!" Inuyasha asked harshly.
"Because I do not have the power to purify from her the evil that resides here," Miroku defended, "I will need Lady Kagome's aid, but she is injured in bed. All I can do is keep her protected from any other evil spirits…"
Inuyasha growled, but nonetheless stayed quiet as Miroku removed an ofuda charm and placed it on the woman's belly, the paper glowing blue, before it faded, leaving an invisible but protective shield.
Miroku stood to leave and noticed that the inu hanyou had yet to stand. The young lord held the woman's hand in his as he looked down on her face and Miroku understood his reasoning to stay. Smiling, Miroku left the bedchamber and closed the door behind him, leaving the Prince alone with his mother.
Seeing as everyone he knew was either sleeping or busy, Miroku decided to go to his room to get some shut eye as well. He had been up for more than twenty-four hours and his fatigue was starting to take its toll. Striding back to his room, Miroku noticed the Palace seemed brighter. Servants were talking happily amongst themselves as guards laughed a bit. Things seemed to be changing for the better.
Upon entering his door, he slid it open, stepped in, and slid it back shut. A cool breeze hit his back and Miroku spun around to see the window open.
"I don't remember opening this," Miroku murmured as he walked towards the object.
There came a tiny 'mew' and Miroku jumped with startle. Looking to the bed, Miroku found Kirara creep away from the pillows towards him, a parchment in her mouth. Miroku closed the window and walked over to the feline, scratching her behind the ear.
"How long have you been here?" Miroku asked the tiny youkai.
Kirara gave a tiny 'mew' and Miroku apologized for making her wait. Taking the parchment, Miroku unrolled it and blinked in surprise at Sango's messaging.
You Bastard!
Miroku, I can't believe you! You probably know already that Kagome has been CAPTURED and I have been worried sick! Souta is so worried and depressed and I have a whole encampment to take care of. Now I know how poor Kagome feels each and every day as she leads these people. I'll be damned if Kouga gets word of this and starts waging war to get Kagome back. I have enough problems as it is already…LIKE YOU!!! Oh I am so angry with you monk.
When I had seen that column of miko energy and went riding to see if she was alright, you know what I found, NOTHING!!! NOT A DAMN THING!! I just found her black bandana. I swear if she is hurt I will inflict so much pain on you, you will never to be able to walk or grope women again!!! I am so mad at you right now!!! Everything is so chaotic here because of you! Everyone is worrying over their leader that I'm not sure we'll be able to keep it secret from Ayame or Kouga any longer.
You know why it's your fault right?! It was your stupid concealment spells that got Kagome captured. If she gets killed I will personally wring your scrawny little neck. If I were there right now I'd slap you a hundred million times and hit you over the head with Hiraikotsu more than that. Maybe that would teach you to think about what the concealment spells were for and considered making them easier for us to see through. YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT MIROKU!!!!
You had better write back telling me how Kagome is doing, or else I'm going to go over there myself, kidnap you and torture you to no end. YOU STUPID, STUPID MONK!!! I can't believe you. I had better receive a letter, by tomorrow afternoon, or you're getting it.
YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE,
Sango
-STUPID!!!!
Miroku cringed as he rolled the letter up and his eyes widened. The letter had come yesterday and she wanted a reply before noon that day, and it was three hours after noon! Eyes wide and sleep forgotten, Miroku retrieved a paintbrush and parchment and set to work on telling that everything was fine there at the Palace.
Kirara would have to make haste while returning back to the encampment, for his sake.
YAY!!! I updated! Sorry for the long wait everyone…I had some proofreading to do on this story and it took a while, but I'm going to be giving you three new chapters since they are all pretty short…But I'm sure you'll like them…I hope…And please review. Omigosh, I'm almost at fifty reviews and when we get there I'll be super happy!!! We're at chapter 24 right now, 25 if you include the prologue, so we're about or a little less than a quarter done…Three more quarters of the story to go since it's over 100 chapters…Yay!!
Remember, read and review and if you have questions, review it or e-mail me.
Shout outs:
To all my readers!! Thanks you are all the bestest! Especially to Whitney Lin, Robin, Koukou Ra-men, ADifrntKindPain, TrueBelle, and all those I didn't mention, but I will on my next update. Promise!! Love you all!!
To kristenwithane: I really would like to thank you for your review and I was very eager to read it with its length. When I did, it made my day and I was giddy the rest of the afternoon. I'm very flattered with your compliments and I agree with you about the review issues, being that some great stories have so little, because I've read some good ones but they hardly get noticed. I'll take your advice about the modern phrases I put in and watch out for them when I proof read, thank you for catching that and thank you for catching that General Tsukuyomaru Hiroshima thing, with Kagome calling him so formally…Uh, I'm going to make a dumb excuse for previous chapters and say she was being…very, very, very respectful. Hehe. I'll watch out for that more in the future. Thanks very much. I'm glad you like my fic (I'm glad all my readers like my fic) and I hope you will continue to like it as it progresses. Catch more of my faults if you can ;) I also hope the sequel will be just as good as the first!! I was wondering…Do you write any stories yourself?
Do any of my readers write their own stories that I can read, because I love to read other fics. Tell me if you do! I'll review if you review!! ;)
Overall, thank you for the review kristenwithane and everyone because I giggled with happiness from them…And since I have about 40 reviews, I printed them all and kept them in my pocket to read and motivate me so I can update for you, because I wrote this for all my readers!! So thank you! And I love you all! You encourage me to continue.
So I hope you like the next to chapters!!!
And so far…#5 is in the lead. I have read Jazzthewolfdemon's "A Fighter's Story" and I say it is one of my favorite fics and one of my favorite authors. Anyways, I don't want to copy the story in any way, I just think it fits in Inuyasha's character to be a fighter in a modern alternate universe and there's always drama when Kagome doesn't agree with his values. A few more votes and I'll tell you who the winner is soon to be published.
Thanks for reading this long author's note!!
Next chapter: Chapter 25: Good News For Sango
Disclaimer: If only Inuyasha were mine…
LUVIN YOU!!
Luvinukag83
Okay, P.S. Everyone!!!
I'm going to be updating a new story!!! I have five different ideas! Here they are:
1.) Inuyasha and the gang are in Feudal Era and have finally defeated Naraku…However, disaster strikes when Kagome is separated from the gang and is confronted by a Light Demon…Inuyasha saves her…But at the cost of his sight!!! Will he ever regain his sight? And is Naraku really dead? VOTE NOW!!
2.) Kagome Higurashi is a twenty-one year old woman living with her older brother, younger twin siblings, and her adopted son. She's a successful advertiser with her best friend and is actually feeling better about her life after years of struggle and hardship. But as a favor to her older brother to cook at his top of the line restaurant for a business dinner, she is confronted with a past ordeal, or more specifically, past love, bringing all her struggles and hardships upon her stressful life once more. After five long years, will a love be rekindled, or will his appearance break her fragile life into pieces? VOTE NOW!!
3.) Inuyasha Taisho is a private detective working on a serious case of linked murders. Sesshoumaru Taisho is his boss. Miroku Hoshi is a detective assigned to assist Inuyasha. Sango Taijiya is a waitress, fired from her job because of Miroku's wandering hands, landing her a new occupation at the Shikon Club. Miroku is a frequent at the Shikon Club who is good friends with the exotic dancer Kagome Higurashi. Inuyasha is about to be taken to this club by Miroku for a guy's night out. Kagome and Sango are neighbors. And Shippo wants Kagome to be his guardian. With these group of characters somehow linked and are soon about to know one another, what happens next when Kagome witnesses a murder and saves a young girl, and her, Sango's, and Shippo's apartment goes up in flames for an unknown reason. How about being placed under the witness protection program, in the same case as Inuyasha's and Miroku's? What exactly is going on? VOTE NOW!!
4.) Inuyasha is a famed street urchin of Medieval Japan who has fallen head over heels in love with Princess Kikyo (Who doesn't even know he exists). His companions Miroku and Shippo want better lives. But when they come across the powerful Shikon no Tama, they're surprised to find a beautiful young maiden appear with one rub of the pink jewel, by the name of Kagome Higurashi, with a mysterious past and ten wishes to give!! With Miroku and Shippo's hearts and desires set on riches and food, Inuyasha is intent on gaining the Princess Kikyo's love. However, who is this mysterious genie, and how is her past linked to his? (Better question yet: Will love bloom? ;))
Side Story: Miroku finds himself falling for the Princess Kikyo's cousin Sango. But with Sango's fiery personality and disgust towards Miroku's perversion, will she return his feelings? Can Miroku gain Shippo's help, or Kagome's womanly intuition? VOTE NOW!!!
5.) Inuyasha 'Hanyou' Taisho is the most famous and #1 fighter of the FTTD Tournament, a mix between boxing and an all out blood war. Living with his best pals Sango Taijiya and Miroku Hoshi, he's pretty content with his life. But when Miroku's cousin, Kagome Higurashi, calls up and asks to stay at their Dojo to be closer to her college campus, all hell breaks loose! With a born fighter, who is short-tempered, and a college dance student who hates FTTD Fighting and is stubborn to boot, living under one roof, one could wonder what will happen?! As Inuyasha goes around Japan for his fighting tournaments and Kagome does the same with her dance competitions, love, betrayal, competition, and friendship will be swooped up in a whirlwind of romance and drama!! VOTE NOW!!!
So tell me guys!!! List them in order from most liked story plot to least liked. For example, #2, #3, #4, #5, #1…Just do it like that in a review or towards my e-mail. I'm going to keep posting this after my chapters until I get enough votes. Thanks again!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!