Death, Greed, & Love

Chapter 38

The Second Tournament

Part One

Inuyasha Gets Flashed

Within a week after the coronation of Veshrane's new king a new entry would be inscribed into the Historical Archives. The entry would read as thus:

The age of Naraku was a dark one. It brought forth death and cruelty. There was even some dissidence about the place that the Tournament law has in our constitution.
While the king's assassination brought peace back to Veshrane, it also produced a rarity, something that has never before been seen in this Country's history.

Tournaments within themselves are rarities. Although a woman is usually the one that inherits the throne, the crown princess is usually married at the passing of her father. In the few cases that the princess is unmarried with the passing of her king, her brother (if she has one) will rule in her stead until a suitable husband can be found. It is only in the most extreme cases that a Suitor Tournament would be held.

Now, due to the fact that Queen Kagome was a childless and her husband had been killed off by Rebels a second Tournament was being held. This one was very select. In former Tournaments no letters of requests were needed. The participants only needed to send letters sealed with the family crest, announcing birth of origin and where they landed in the family registry. The High General, Lord Hephastis, who at this time was Steward until a king was crowned had decided that the Council must be very select in who they allowed into this second Tournament. This in part had to due with the poor popularity that the late King enjoyed among Veshrane's citizens.

The previous Tournament was called the Cursing among the laymen, among the ones who had suffered most from Naraku's brief reign. They feared that the next Tournament would produce a king of the same nature. Many suggested the impossible: they believed that the Queen should rule until she found a noble that she deemed of a suitable nature. Lord Hephastis only avoided an uprising by revealing the contestants. All of those that were entering the Tournament were mostly of Veshrane birth and all were of noble repute. This calmed the masses.

It was in such a fashion that the Second Tournament, a rarity—a first—in Veshranean took place. All looked towards this with anticipation. Because of the exclusive nature of this Tournament many of the seats in the arena were available to public. Most of the residents of Shikon City were able to obtain seating. Even peasants from the outlying provinces were able to. The small businesses flourished that day. Many set up carts of food, drinks, and trinkets that quickly sold out.

All of Veshrane was right to hold this day in such anticipation for, indeed, never had there been so glorious a fighter as was the future king…

Of course there would be no records of the abuse that the Queen suffered how she lost a child due to the cruel beatings. There would be no records of how close Veshrane came to going to war with its liberators, the Keshante Rebels. No record of the nuances and ripples of discontent that nearly contributed to Veshrane's downfall.

It was impossible to keep the arrogant smile off of his face and it only served to irritate his opponent even more. He couldn't help it. Never would he have imagined that the Tournament would be filled with such wimps. He had only four more opponents and then he was in the finals.

His current opponent was a red-faced barbarian with coarse hair from the mountain country of Javelle. Aside from the sandals strapped to his feet a loin cloth was the only article of clothing the Javellean wore.

The barbarian dashed suddenly to his right, moving with surprising speed and grace. Unfortunately the movement also allowed Inuyasha a very clear glimpse at the man's genitals.

Inuyasha jumped back just as the barbarian made a downward sweep with his sword. The hanyou flipped, his feet hitting the dirt firmly, despite the fact that the sleeve of his haori covered his face and his eyes were squeezed shut as if he were blinded.

That's it. He cautiously lowered his haori sleeve and opened one eye. When he saw that, indeed, the man's loin cloth was back in place and the genitals were once again concealed he opened his other eye and slid into a battle crouch. He amber eyes gleamed with ferocity as he cracked his knuckles. It's time to finish this.

Even if it was only to protect Kagome from witnessing anything so unsightly he was going to destroy this man.

"Inuyasha just got flashed again, didn't he?"

"I think so."

Sango and Miroku watched the battle come to a close with amused silence. Inuyasha seemed to have finally decided to stop playing around and beating his opponent. He didn't seem to be thinking much and just dove straight at the barbarian, barreling into the man. The force sent both fighters flying to the other side of the arena. The hanyou straddled his opponent and proceeded to pummel his opponent brutally. Of course this could have had something to do with the fact that Inuyasha had, once again, been flashed due to a stray wind. Unfortunately, the barbarian's current position still left his genitals bared for the crowd.

Of course, Sango and Miroku would happen to one of the closest observers at the moment.

Miroku turned away, a disgusted grimace on his face. Sango, however, couldn't turn her eyes away from it. Her face was bright red, almost the shade of a cherry, but she just couldn't stop starring at the bags of flesh. They…they were so hairy…

"He must have really big feet." She whispered.

Miroku and even Inuyasha caught the shocked murmur. A look akin to horror was on both their faces as they stared at the taiji-ya.

"Sango," Miroku's voice sounded almost hurt.

Sango said nothing, although her face was starting to flush an even redder shade then Miroku thought possible. A grunt of pain from Inuyasha brought their attention back to the fight.

It appeared that the barbarian wasn't as simple-minded as the Kashanteans had expected. He had taken advantage of the shocked state that Sango's whispered words had on her two friends, and kicked the hanyou off of his stomach. Inuyasha was sent flying towards the center of the arena. Within seconds of hitting the ground he was back on his feet, and the next time he clashed with barbarian the duel had changed from a game of cat-and-mouse to an all out brawl.

"Miroku."

The houshi looked over at Sango, taking note of the deepening blush on her cheeks.

"You have big feet too."

He gaped at her for a moment before grinning with uncharacteristic arrogance. In another uncharacteristic motion he brought one arm around the taiji-ya's shoulder and pulled her closer to him. Sango didn't hesitate to rest her head against Miroku's shoulder.

"Inuyasha just got flashed again."

"Mmhm."

The crowd roared its approval as another battle was finished. The Queen, the one woman every man was fighting for, sat silently in a gold-wrought chair near a stream in her mother's private gardens, far away from the battle. Even all these years after Megumi's death the gardeners gave it the same loving care they had always given it. The garden didn't flourish the way it had when Queen Megumi had helped tend it, but it was still breath taking.

There was even a small plot devoted to the herbs that Kikyou needed for the charms and rituals that she performed as a miko (however few they were). The miko had been surprised to see the garden still intact after the battle. It wasn't that she had thought that the fighting would have spread to here. The garden was, after all, well concealed. (Not to mention she had erected several protection spells around it when the late Queen had given her the bit of soil for her herbs.) She was more surprised of the fact that Naraku had allowed the gardeners to work on such a tiny garden.

Currently, the miko was bent, the edges of her gi and hakama covered in grass stains and dirt as she harvested the plants. When the shallow hip-basket next to her was filled she would take it over by the river and place it on the glass table next to Kagome. The two of them would then press the herbs so that they could be wrapped in soft cloth and stored into their labeled chests until they were needed.

Kikyou tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, not caring that the dirt crusted under her nails was staining her skin. She clipped some leaves off of a small civrt plant, and then dug her nails into the dirt to gently pull out the roots of glevch flower. She tapped the roots lightly with the tips of her fingers to rid of any excess dirt. Her task done, she sighed—it was pretty hot—and picked up the basket to head over by Kagome.

She set the basket on the table, and knelt down by the river plunging her hands into it as she fought to dig the dirt out from underneath her nails.

"You're dirty, Kikyou-san." Kagome reached for a piece of cloth, a silver knife half the size of a small quill pen, and the glevch flower. She ran her fingers along the velvety, crimson laced petals in silent thought for a moment before continuing her task. Using the knife she cut off a good portion of the stem—the flower was going in the small, crystal vase by her bedside—and set the roots in a bowl of water, swirling them to get rid of any left over dirt.

"I'll just have to let Houjo clean me." The gleam in Kikyou's eyes was absolutely devilish.

Fortunately, Kagome had set the knife back down and had yet to pick it up again and didn't have to worry about chopping her finger in response to that remark.

"Kikyou-san!"

"What?" She hesitated for half a beat before continuing. "I'm sure you've done that type of thing with Inuyasha."

The way her friend turned crimson instead of paling like she usually did at the mention of her mate's name told the miko that she had been right to take the risk. Besides if everything went well today…

Kagome took deep even breathes as she tried to cool her flush. "I think," the color had lessened somewhat but she still refused to look at Kikyou, "that you have been hanging around Miroku too much."

Kikyou laughed. She withdrew her hands from the water and shook them before standing up to join Kagome at the table. She was in an uncharacteristically giddy mood today. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that today could quite possibly be the end of her friend's private depression.

Kagome worked hard to always be responsive and to act like a hint of her former self, but both Kikyou and Sango could see through the charade and how much of an effect Inuyasha's abandonment had on her. Kikyou was damn sure about one thing. It didn't matter if he won the Tournament or not—if he became king or not—both the miko and the taiji-ya were going to come down on the hanyou like two avenging angels the first chance they got.

If Inuyasha won the Tournament (and she prayed to all the kami she knew of that he did) then the old Kagome would return, the one who had existed before Naraku, before the death of her father and mother. Kikyou very much doubted that even Inuyasha and Sango had seen that side of Kagome. It was the side of her friend that she hadn't seen for a very long time. By the time she had managed to recover from her mother's murder, her father—under the urge of the Council—had started inviting potential suitors to the palace; and most of those men had reminded Kikyou too much of the men that served in the Council. So, yes, if Inuyasha won everything would be happiness, sunshine, and butterflies. Hell, Kikyou could probably even convince him to get rid of that stupid law.

The reality of what would happen if he didn't was so depressing that Kikyou didn't even want to consider it.

There were two ways it could go: a decent lord could win the Tournament and even though Kagome would remain the shell of a person that she had become she would at least have someone who genuinely cared about her and took care of her.

It had to at least be a decent lord that won the Tournament. If it was another Naraku…the agreement that the Council made with Sesshoumaru may have prevented physical abuse but that didn't mean there weren't other ways a husband could hurt her. If that happened, Kikyou was afraid that Kagome would commit suicide.

Who knew what Inuyasha's reaction to that would be.

"Sounds like another battle's over." Kikyou took a knife identical to Kagome's and reached for a plant with brittle leaves.

"It will be over soon."

"Not that many battles left?"

"No." The Queen's voice was soft. "I…I think they will go quickly."

Kikyou's grey eyes were thoughtful as she carefully cut into the waxy material that covered the plant's epidermis.

"Kagome-sama, Miroku and Sango are going to be staying here for a couple of nights. We should sneak out to Yura's Tavern tomorrow."

"The Council wouldn't approve, and I doubt my husband will either."

"Sod the Council, and sod your husband. We won't get to see Sango that much longer. She'll be leaving in a couple of weeks. She just has to finish training the new recruits."

"Maybe."

The miko sent down the plant and the knife with a heavy sigh. This wasn't accomplishing anything.

"Come on, Kagome-sama. Why don't we go to the hot springs? Tonight's your wedding night and you need to relax. We can have a maid inform us when the Tournament is over."

Kagome smiled a little, though it was obviously forced. "That would be nice."

It was down to the final round. After the fifth flashing incident Inuyasha had stopped holding back. He had been merciless as he unleashed flurries of attacks on the barbarian. The man, despite his unusual agility, had been unable to fend them off and was at the hanyou's mercy. Within minutes the fight was over. The crowd's roar of approval (the hanyou was quickly becoming a favorite of theirs) quickly changed to a mix of laughter and groans of offense when another breeze succeeded in exposing the barbarian for the last time.

As for Inuyasha?

He let out a shriek of rage at the injustice of it all. He never ever wanted to see another man's…that and to be forced to see one that hairy and grotesque on multiple occurrences for prolonged periods of time just wasn't right.

He did the only thing he could do. He kept a tight hold on those emotions of disgust and channeled his frustrations and anger through the next four fights. They all went by too quickly. His opponents had seen what the hanyou had done to the barbarian and why they all agreed that the hanyou had been well within his rights to inflict as many injuries on the Javellean the extent of the injuries disturbed them. One of the opponents had been so frightened that he forfeited (much to Inuyasha's disappointment) while another hadn't even been able to hold out for a full minute.

Now here he was standing in the arena with his final opponent in front of him.

"So you decided to try and win her, didn't you bastard? I thought pricks like you were banned from participating. Something about stupidity and conflict of interest."

"No one asked you to think, hanyou." Hephastis returned smoothly, his hand resting calmly on the hilt of his blade. "Besides this is the agreement I made with your brother in exchange for allowing you to participate."

"So this Sesshoumaru's doing? Keh, suits me just fine. I've been looking for an excuse to rip you to pieces."

"Now, now, you know the rules. No unnecessary blood is to be shed."

"Too bad. That takes disembowelment off the list. I will make you suffer the way Kagome suffered—"

"Do not speak our Queen's name so casually, half-breed!"

"Fuck off! She's my mate and there is no chance in hell that I'm handing her over to a bastard like you! You allowed Naraku to hurt her! You allowed that bastard to kill our unborn pup! I heard from Miroku how little resistance you pricks put up when it came to his treatment of her." Inuyasha cracked his knuckles, and his voice dropped into a threatening growl. "You will suffer humiliation from my claws, right here and now. Don't expect your life to get much easier. I will make yours a living hell for a long time to come when I become king."

Hephastis narrowed his eyes at Inuyasha. "You won't."

A gong sounded and the fight began.

For a moment both warriors just stood there, assessing the others strength. Miroku and Sango watched the fight in anticipation, Yura and all the other former Rebels that had attended were just as silent, it wasn't until the apparent boredom of the audience finally escalated that the two began to move.

Yura shook her head in disbelief. It was amazing, these people had lived in terror during Naraku's reign and they still didn't understand just what was at stake.

Hephastis drew his sword.

Inuyasha slid into a crouch.

Inuyasha let out a snarl of rage when he blurred into movement.

Hephastis was almost noiseless as he dashed forward.

Their attacks clashed.

Kagome toweled her hair, looking towards the balcony at the sudden sounds of discontent that come from the Tournament's audience. Kikyou laid her robe, a modification of the Virgin Shroud, on the bed. Because second Tournaments were such a rare occurrence in Veshrane (as much as she recalled her history lessons she couldn't recall the list time it happened) the seamstress had been required to make a few alterations on the robe.

Instead of just the plain white robe, crimson gauze had been sewn onto the material, very similar to a sheer over robe. The robe itself had been dyed black. The crimson and black symbolized the previous lost of her virgin's blood and marked her as no longer being a maiden. The sleeves fell loosely and tapered to a point just below Kagome's wrist.

The widowed Queen pulled a brush through her hair and glanced at the window thoughtfully.

"What do you think is going on? Sounds like things are getting a little…"

"Rowdy? No idea. Maybe they don't like one of the finalists. So how would a widow do her hair?"

Kagome winced slightly at Kikyou's bluntness but it should have been expected. The miko never walked on eggshells around her just because there was something she didn't want to discuss. Besides it was the truth. She may love Inuyasha and be marked as his mate—something that obviously didn't mean very much to him—but Naraku had been her husband. A husband that she was now free from. All she could do now was pray that the Tournament's Champion was a good man and prepare herself for him. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror.

"My hair has grown a bit. It wasn't this long when…" She had to force herself to say it. She needed to stop dwelling over what had happened! Inuyasha left her and nothing was going to change that. "When Inuyasha first took me."

"How about a braid then? Sit down."

Kagome nodded and obeyed.

Kikyou rummaged through the pile of materials that the maid had brought up when she had delivered the Widow's Mantle. Finally she found what she was looking for, two simple red ribbons, perfect for braiding.

"Okay, Kagome-sama." She pulled her friend's still damp hair and gently let it rest over one shoulder. "It's going to be a side braid."

Dully, the other girl nodded.

Kikyou tied the ribbon around the hair that was settled just over Kagome's shoulder, careful to use as little of the ribbon as possible. She then parted the raven locks into two sections and weaved them. The miko was careful as she weaved the length of the ribbon into the hair. If it got twisted at all she would be forced to start all over again. She was pleasantly surprised to discover that she had just right amount of ribbon left to close off the braid.

"Done." The top of her tongue hit the roof of her mouth and she clucked. Both she and Kagome looked at each other and giggled when they realized what she had done. She was pleased with the stark contrast between crimson and ebony. "Now let's get you dressed."

They were carefully not to disturb Kagome's hair as she slipped on the black cotton. The gauze felt cool against her bare arms and it closed in a way reminiscent of Sango's kimono. The same golden cord as before was used placed around Kagome's waist and kept the over robe loosely together.

There was a knock at the door and one of the younger lords was waiting in the main chamber to escort Kikyou to the Throne Room to help prepare for the crowning ceremonies.

Kagome sat down on the edge of the bed that had once belonged to her father and mother, her back facing the door.

Now all she could do was wait.

PLEASE READ THIS A/N. IT CONTAINS UPDATING INFORMATION.

Having Hephastis be Inuyasha's final opponent was a last minute idea. It seemed fitting. It was either that or make Hiten do a cameo appearance which while it would have been fun, the reality of it was that it didn't raise the stakes like they needed to be raised. What will happen if Inu loses? So battling Inu is not just cocky Inu. It's pissed-off-I'm-going-to-tear-you-to-pieces-castrate-you-and-feed-you-your-own-balls-cocky Inu. . Besides I love Hep-chan. When I rewrite this story as an original I'm giving him more scenes. I'll probably rewrite this version of the story as well, but that will be a rainy day sort of thing. Wow, I've been writing this story for the past four years and all I have left are two chapters and an epilogue. If there's anyone who is interested in being updated on the progress of the original version leave your email in a review and I'll make a mailing list. Recently I've been starting to dedicate a lot more time to writing, at least an hour a day. I figure even when I'm working a full time job (currently jobless) I'll be devoting at least an hour to it.

For those that are interested I am…a quarter of the way done with the next chapter. I'm also done with the second chapter of the Isle of Virote (PLEASE check it out) but those won't be done until the next Sunday I update. I will be updating every Sunday by noon, but only one chapter per story. That way, if I have a bad week I will still have stuff to update with. (If I get to points on stories where I have a few more chapters to update then I will do more. Don't expect that too often though.)

Again, I would really appreciate it if people would check out Isle of Virote. It's my new baby and you porn dogs might want to check it out. None of the lemons will be on FFN, but they will be posted on Media Miner. In fact, Chapter One already has a lemon. It's a dark and lemony fic. . The chapters will be no more then 5 pages, but I can guarantee an update every week (as long as I don't hit writer's block). I would really appreciate it if any experienced lemon writers (are there any that read my fics?) give me some advice on how to improve that part.

Ok, I'm rambling. See you all next week!

For more info check out my LJ.

Zel no Miko: Boo whore.

Shut up.