Disclaimer: These guys aren't mine… donchaknow.
Hi! This is my second fic! Well... what else is there to say? Have fun! Read and Review! Peace! Love! Donuts!
Kinshu- Wise man
Youkai- demon
Inuyoukai- dog demon (also, Inuyasha's father)
Shinju- Pearl (in this case, it refers to the Queen)
Gogyou Shidouin- Element Advisors (please don't hurt me if that's just really bad Japanese or something)
Yamiyo- "Dark Night" or something.
Kairiku- Land and Sea
Daichi- ground/earth/solid earth (reference to one of the Gogyou Shidouin)
Act One: Without beginnings
'There are no beginnings to tales that have no end. And without ends, we can live forever. Will you live forever with me? Will you and I make a tale that will be told for an eternity? A tale in which the old and the young alike shall listen with keen ears to cry and laugh and moan and smile. A tale in which the deeds of the great and small, the heroes and the villains, shall live in infamy… forever? Take my hand, run with me to this place, for we shall be together there… Always.'
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The blade splashed sunlight blindingly as it ripped through the man's chest, paused while it glinted blood and radiance, then retreated back through the gouge. Gasping out a last breath, his face a contortion of agony, the soldier slumped to his knees fumbling with numb hands for the missing piece of his torso. Then he fell, face forward into the dirt with his mouth open in a soundless scream, the last man to fight for his fallen king. His killer flipped him right-side up with a mean kick; it was disgusting how the youkai lord had treated his men- not a single guardsman within the castle had been old enough to see a day's growth on their face, and not a single guardsmen had been wearing a bit of iron or armor besides their swords. Fuck it, some of them had been wielding training swords, miserable pieces of wood slapped together and wrapped up with a bit of cloth. This supposedly unbeatable kingdom was a disgrace to the youkai name of horror and filth, replacing it with all but pity for the feeble land. But the king knew his men, the elite Hiryuu, would never say a word against the slaughter that had occurred within these foreign lands; because the king would be sure they were well spoiled. After all, the women they had passed by on their trek were not all youkai freaks. Some of them were humans, undoubtedly slaves of their youkai masters and forced into marriage, and not all of them were terrible looking wenches. Indeed, he was thinking of picking up a girl or two as personal servants on his way back. But those pleasantries would have to wait for later.
"Where is the youkai that calls himself king, here? Where is his filthy youkai head?" The king roared, white-flecked spittle shooting out of his mouth. Battle always aroused him slightly past the point of sanity, the fever of the fight, the allure of the enemy's lost blood. It all called to him. He strode through the youkai king's great chamber room, careless about the fallen men beneath his feet, whether they wore foreign colors or not. Either way, each wore the same rictus of pain on their face; either way, each would become the dust they were lying in. It made a man, or king, think about the lives he was throwing away through war, and wondered why the people despised war, when the men that died were just faceless, nameless pawns. In life they were nothing to a king but servants, and in their death, the same.
From out of a nearby doorway appeared a Hiryuu, his plumed helmet and magenta ribbon tied around his arm marking him as a member of the king's elite. He saluted smartly when he saw his king, a sharp fist smacking against dull armor that rang dully in the thick air of the dead castle, and barked, "Your Highness! The youkai lord has been found, along with…" The man droned on, but the king was deaf to all else but the pursuit of the youkai lord, the Inuyoukai, the so-called great and powerful Dog Demon of the Western Lands. He would see the freakish anomaly grovel and beg like his namesake before he would be finished, he would-
He stopped. He was inside the king's personal chamber, a small tacit room past the foyer, outfitted with one bed and one bare chair, lacking any other decorations that would denote it a king's room. The king himself was sprawled upon the floor, his weapon skewed to the side and headless. Next to him, the guilty Hiryuu stood ready with a naked sword dripping crimson blood on the bare stone floor. The king looked stupidly from the guard to the decapitated king.
Rushing in was the first guard, who skidded to a stop just in time to avoid crashing into his king, when he saw the corpse on the floor. "You little fuck! What the hell happened? This man was for the king alone!" He shouted at him, embarrassment and rage both coloring the officer's cheeks.
The sword made a huge crack in the austere chamber, falling from the cadet's suddenly lifeless hands as he stuttered thick apologies to his lord. He never finished them as the king's already bloodied sword chopped his head from his neck. Free from its neck, it spun off spraying crimson dots on both the living men. The officer reeled backward in disgust, bending over when the job was through to puke. "And I ranked you officer," the king's voice dripped with loathing for the weak man. He stepped over to his beheaded victim and spat on his mahogany chest plate. "This man's remain will be quartered, then dragged behind us on our return. You understand?" There was no answer while the retching continued. Unexpectedly infuriated, the king slammed the pommel of his sword on the sick man's neck, right were the helmet and breastplate parted for a vulnerable spot in the armor. With a cry, the officer fell into his own mess. "The king asked you if you understood, now say you understand, or you'll be joining your comrade's sad fate." The king said calmly, watching the man writhe and try to stand. He pressed an iron-booted foot against his bruising neck. "No, no, no. Say it from there. Like the good little soldier you are."
"Y-yes, Your Majesty," The sound was muffled.
"What was that?"
"Yes! Your Majesty! Yes! Please, Your Majesty! I understand!"
"Good. Make sure that you do." The king let his foot up. Immediately, the man struggled up, onto all four like a dog. Just for the crude imitation of the Inuyoukai, the king crashed a booted foot into the soldier's stomach before turning away to survey the dead leader of a kingdom. Anger surged through the king at the lost chance of seeing this miserable piece of youkai suffer in the last moments before life and death. The cadet had made his killing easy, painless. Well, he would have some fun with his nemesis, in life or death, and raised his huge sword above his head, preparing to bring it crashing down on the already severed head of the mutt.
"NOOOOO!" The scream, wrenched from the depths of anguished soul, sounded from behind the king; but his sword was already falling, falling-
CRASH!
The king's long weapon stopped jarringly against another piece of steel straining against the brute force of his arms. In astonishment, wielding a weapon, which was huge in comparison of the creature, was a small youkai, undoubtedly one of the Inuyoukai's bastard children. His small face, framed with silver hair and twin tufts of fluff rising from his head, was straining to hold the sword up. His pale cheeks were blemished by streaks of dried tears, and specks of vivid red.
Curious, the king pressed the sword harder, and the thing careened backwards, unable to take the pressure, his sword slanting, causing the kings to offhandedly scrape against the pup's knuckles, forearm. As the thing cried out in pain, the king twisted his sword, chopping off the top of the creature's left ear. He landed against the Inuyoukai's torso, and screamed when he rolled into the pool of blood where the dog demon's head should have been. He kept screaming, looking from the body to the head to the man above him with the dripping sword to the body to the head to the man to the body-
"Shut up, little bastard!" Giving him a backhand across the mouth, the youkai skidded backwards, knocking his head against the stone wall. The king loomed over him, blocking out the rising dawn's light.
"I'll kill you!" The pup screamed at him. He backhanded him once more, knocking his head into the wall again. The youkai groaned in pain.
"You're the bastard spawn of this youkai piece of shit, aren't you?"
"You killed my father, you bastard hum-" Another backhand.
"If you don't want me to break open that head like I did your father's, you'd better shut up, pup."
Quiet sobbing responded. "Ah, you worthless mongrel." The king spat in the youkai's face before giving him a harder blow that knocked the thing unconscious. Picking it up with one hand, he threw the beast at the officer behind him, and strode out of the chamber, neatly picking up the Inuyoukai's head with the tip of his sword. "Kunshi!" The king bellowed. "Kunshi, come to me!"
A wiry, ferret-like man streaked out of a nearby room, followed shortly by two Hiryuu. He picked his way through the throne room with great care, vigilant not to step on the remains of the dead, as much out of superstition as for caution to his flowing robes. Sneering at the dead men littered about, he even fisted his garments up so that they would not touch a particularly nasty body. With a smooth slide up to his liege-lord, he said oily, "You called, your most delightful Majesty?"
"Clean out these rooms of these stinking carcasses of worthless soldiers. I expect to have a feast here by the next sunrise."
The Kunshi bowed his greasy black head as they walked, allowing the clumpy strands of long hair fall to hide his derisive grimace. "Yes, Your Majesty. As you wish, Your Majesty. Within the next half-day, it shall be done, Your Majesty."
"And do something with the Inuyoukai's pup. I don't want to hear mention of him or his spawn after this day. His kingdom has been fairly destroyed, and is mine now. His family shall be hanged or quartered by the next quarter moon, and records of their existence burned."
"As you wish, Your Majesty." The Kunshi said submissively, bobbing his head further. Then his head jerked backward toward the unconscious youkai being carried before the officer, and he paused a moment before murmuring silkily, his voice conspiratorial. "Perhaps, however, your Highness will consider before killing the pup. He could be … useful… in future negotiations with other youkai kingdoms."
The king's small eyes blinked slowly, then narrowed. His silence stretched on long enough for the Kunshi to duck his head lower, purring apologies. "The Kunshi has overstretched his humble position, your Majesty. Forgive me, forgive this humble servant…"
"Be quiet!" The growing convoy of soldiers had reached the main entrance halls of the enormous castle, gradually growing larger as more of the Hiryuu and main soldier forces finished their fights. Several of them had already claimed their spoils and those who were not enjoying them with muffles and growls within half-closed rooms were dragging their women forcefully with them. These youkai women had a strain of boldness and ferocity within them that was unseen within the human kingdoms, and his own domain. It lit something within the king, and began to stir it into a slow boil as he saw the proud women scratching, biting, kicking at their captors. How would it be to break one of those women, with such fire burning behind their eyes? He held back the urge to tear one of them away from his soldiers and take her to his tent; he would, of course, for Shinju's sake, wait until the decency of dark to find one.
"Majesty?" The Kinshu said, his eyes darting along his lord's line of sight to one of the foreign women. His own face hardened imperceptivity; he had long ago given up such sensual pursuits, even though he had no desire for the other sex; such fleshy quests only would distract the mind.
"Do what you will with the thing for now, Kinshu. We will discuss it in detail later." His Majesty said with a diffident wave, dismissing the issue. Now the King stopped in the middle of the huge castle doors, drawing himself up, the morning sunlight silhouetting his huge brute figure with something akin to the gods' light. Raising his arms, the light streamed around them.
"My faithful soldiers, we are VICTORIOUS!" He heaved the Inuyoukai's head into the air for the roar.
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"…Yes, Your Majesty. No, Your Majesty. Yes, it shall be done within the next day, Your Majesty." The Kinshu droned on and on, actually listening to his lord with only enough of one ear to recognize the line he was supposed to say. He had others that would be doing the actual business expected from him, if there was anything, but naturally they were not apparent within the room, and if they were, certainly not in any form recognizable by the king. Several did not serve just those purposes, but oftentimes worked as eyes and ears within the castle. Although the Kinshu did not know all of those that gathered information for him, those that did report to him had menial jobs that few people would suspect. Two were maids. Another was a cook. It was amazing how much information would be picked up as a trash gatherer, indeed, he relied on that one much for the most reliable intelligence.
Sensing a pause in his lord's orders, the Kinshu prepared his 'advice.' As the advisor, he practically ruled the kingdom for the hulking oaf that sat upon the throne. Reflexively, his mouth twisted into a feral sneer, the Kinshu hiding it by ducking his head to curtain his face with his long hair. Advice. Advice. The damn oaf had to be fed orders to do anything worthwhile; he had to be convinced it was his own idea. Well, the Kinshu had 'advised' the war on the great Dog Demon of the Western Lands, Inuyoukai, he could 'advise' him on matters to the North, with the Demon Lord Naraku and his youkai kingdom. Those freak youkai, too, would fall eventually beneath the Kinshu puppet's fist, and one day… beneath the Kinshu's fist himself. It would take one scoop of food by one scoop of food into the King's mouth, but he would be fed everything.
"Majesty," The Kinshu began, insinuatingly. They were sitting in the great chambers traditionally used to discuss matters of the kingdom, at the large rectangular table that fit the seven Element advisors, the Gogyou Shidouin, as they were called. The Kinshu was the chief advisor, the closest to the king. They were all of them easily corrupted by money, greed, women, power; why else would the Kinshu have selected them for the King to elect? "Majesty. The Kinshu would like to bring up the issue of the youkai child which you brought with you from the Western Lands, the son of the-"
"None will speak that foul name!" The king shouted, spraying spit into the Kinshu's unblinking face while he slammed a palm against the table. It creaked under the brute's blow. The other Shidouin inched back in their oversized wooden seats. Each seat in itself was an ancient work, the Kinshu reflected momentarily. The wood was taken generations ago from a mystical youkai forest, each tree once a body that housed a now-extinct species of tree youkai. A master wood smith had decorated the dead carcasses, molded them for each "Elemental" advisor, and carved into a throne-sized chair. The inherent abilities of the youkai would protect them from ever burning or collapsing. The table, however, was another matter.
The Kinshu bowed his head deeply, touching his chin to the crook of his chest with a slight curving of hunched shoulders. "Forgiveness, Your Majesty. The passage of time is so small as to make so humble a self forget your glorious orders." It rotted his teeth to have to say such a thing to the beast. Everyone should be bowing and scraping to him!
The king grunted. Consent to go on, if not exactly an acceptance of the apology.
The Kinshu tried not to grind his teeth. "Your Majesty. The pup that we have obtained, the youkai. The Gogyou Shidouin and the Kinshu feel as though you have been most wise in delaying his death, especially as relations between the Northern Lands kingdom of Yamiyo, where rules the youkai king Naraku."
The king paused a moment, obviously realizing he had not thought about the captured pup for the past two months since the return from the Western Lands. Nonetheless, he was hardly about to loose face by asking why it was such a good idea to have supposedly spared the thing's life. "And can you, the Kinshu, my most wise man in the entire kingdom, derive 'why' it was another of my brilliant ideas to do so?" The king cleverly baited. Cleverly for a drowning fish. The Kinshu resisted the urge to rip the king's throat out by shuffling his papers before continuing.
"My Majesty, it is obvious to us that you wanted to use the child as leverage in the coming Kairiku Council. After all, who could consider the Eastern Lands hostile to the youkai kingdoms of the Upper Lands when the king has magnanimously adopted a youkai from a conquered youkai land, my lord?"
The king hesitated for a long while at this. "N-naturally," The king said, wondering what exactly had happened. The Kinshu smiled then. It was a strange thing. Even though the king was a veteran of many battles and traveled many different lands, having seen strange and horrific things, the king privately prayed that the Kinshu would never again make that appalling face.
"Well, then, your Majesty. Perhaps the best ceremony date will be…"
It was a beginning. It was a small, tiny beginning, but from the humblest beginnings rose the emperors and warlords of the past, as rose the emperors and warlords of the future. The Kinshu, ducking his head to his lord again, smiled.
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The whereabouts of the pup were obtained shortly after, for even though the Kinshu had taken care that the youkai child was alive for his plans, he was not so careful in how alive the same child would be. It was ascertained that the pup was being held in a prison cell two levels beneath the castle main grounds. When that cell block was then located, another two days had passed and the youkai was finally withdrawn and placed in the uppermost tower.
"This piece of shit isn't even alive any more, Shiduin Daichi." The soldier holding the semi-conscious youkai thanked the gods that he put on his gauntlets this morning. The fucking thing was probably infected with lice or some other youkai-spreading crap like that. He threw the youkai into the room, not caring where exactly the creature landed. It skid across the floor as though it weighed nothing before hitting the wall.
The Shiduin Daichi waved a disinclined hand, more interested in the reports he held in his hands. They were explaining the recent going-ons within the Northern Kingdom, the most powerful youkai kingdom in all the Upper Lands. His eyes-and-ears only recently returned from their various missions; their intelligence was fascinating. The Kinshu would be more than pleased at receiving this- the Shiduin Daichi was sure to expect more than the normal gifts for this. He looked up briefly to motion the caretaker-maids in the room, but remembered in time to memorize their faces. He had not remained Shiduin Daichi by being careless with people and things; that could lead to accidents, especially if the Kinshu began to wonder more about this squat pudgy man. Only an idiot without much longer to live underestimated the Shiduin Daichi as a man too wrapped up in reports and words to forget that he had climbed high enough to become the Shiduin Daichi.
Disdainfully sneering at him, the officer brushed past the Shiduin, making his way back to post in the cell blocks. Slowly following after him, alone, the Shiduin memorized the soldiers face, marking him as one of those idiots. The path to the cell block was long and lonely from here in the abandoned tower, and one solitary soldier would not be missed…
Inside the tower chambers, the caretaker-maids got rapidly to work on the youkai. Although they were tender and would not shirk their duties, they hardly wanted to waste their hours with a youkai beast. He had to be force-fed after the menial and inconsistent food given to prisoners, not to mention cleaned, and fitted for clothes. Despite their ministrations, when they left he had passed out from the activity.
"Okasan… Okasan…"
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"NO NO NO! LET ME GO! I am 'not' the princess! I 'order' you to let me go! Let me GO!" Landing a mean kick between the legs of one of the guards, the little raven haired girl dashed off like a hound after rabbits. Her bustling large skirts flared out behind her in an imitation of the hair that was progressively becoming undone. Streaming out wildly like a silky black flag, she wrestled with the braid her maid had attempted this morning with one hand, while throwing a wicked right handed punch. The bystander that previously blocked this little girl's path crumpled with a low groan, then curled up even tighter when she used him as a carpet.
"I refuse to wear this stupid braid! I refuse to go to this stupid celebration at all! I don't even have a stupid brother! I won't have one! I REFUSE!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, rushing down the stairs, into the ladies wing, where the female guests of her parents stayed.
She slowed only long enough to knock on all of the doors in the hall, before proceeding down the other staircase at the end of the hall. Startled gasps and some screams accompanied the opening of doors as the very delicate women of the castle came in contact (often painful) with the very determined pursuing guardsmen. Suddenly bursting into giggles as the stairwell opened into yet another hallway, this one lined with enormous tapestries, and stretching on as far as she could see, the little girl skipped her way down the passageway. Daintily dragging her fingertips along the right wall, she stopped when her fingers pressed against air, not stone. Carefully, she slipped behind the tapestry, just as the soldiers managed to detangle themselves from the distraught women and rush down the stairs, streaming past her hiding place in their hunt. "Kagome-hime! Please, your Highness, we do not have time for this today! Kagome-hime!"
A feral grin passed across her young face, and she turned to the hidden passage which the servants used to travel with their orders so quickly, whistling softly to herself. The passageway was lit with torches, but otherwise it was bare of any decorations or warmth. Every now and then the way would turn into a shadowy darkness wherein a door would lie to enter a certain room. Confident in her abilities, Kagome followed the way, trusting her princess-instincts to lead her back to her chambers eventually.
Eventually turned into eternity. Afraid of being punished, she avoided the servants by ducking into the side passages; afraid of being eaten by rats, she darted away from shadows.
"I am not lost. Princesses don't 'get' lost. I am not lost. I am not lost… MOMMY!" She wailed into the darkness, finally slumping down onto the dirty floor, forgetting what maid said about getting her pretty dress filth-covered. She was going to die alone, as a princess never should, on the day she was going to meet her brother, and mommy would be 'so' mad. So very mad. Something in front of her scuttled in the shadows. With a shriek, Kagome scrambled backward. When her head hit a low doorknob, she fumbled with it, hearing the thing draw closer, creeping in the darkness to eat her, open open open-
Kagome fell inside the door, sprawling on bare stone floor. The sound was drawing even closer- she slammed the door shut on her knees, breathing heavily. She was safe. The rats could not get her here, wherever here was.
"Did you just fall out of that tapestry?"
Kagome whirled around with another short scream. Before her stood a boy, clothed in the finest.
A boy. With pink-tinged ears on his head.
Hi! This is my second fic! Well... what else is there to say? Have fun! Read and Review! Peace! Love! Donuts!
Kinshu- Wise man
Youkai- demon
Inuyoukai- dog demon (also, Inuyasha's father)
Shinju- Pearl (in this case, it refers to the Queen)
Gogyou Shidouin- Element Advisors (please don't hurt me if that's just really bad Japanese or something)
Yamiyo- "Dark Night" or something.
Kairiku- Land and Sea
Daichi- ground/earth/solid earth (reference to one of the Gogyou Shidouin)
Act One: Without beginnings
'There are no beginnings to tales that have no end. And without ends, we can live forever. Will you live forever with me? Will you and I make a tale that will be told for an eternity? A tale in which the old and the young alike shall listen with keen ears to cry and laugh and moan and smile. A tale in which the deeds of the great and small, the heroes and the villains, shall live in infamy… forever? Take my hand, run with me to this place, for we shall be together there… Always.'
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The blade splashed sunlight blindingly as it ripped through the man's chest, paused while it glinted blood and radiance, then retreated back through the gouge. Gasping out a last breath, his face a contortion of agony, the soldier slumped to his knees fumbling with numb hands for the missing piece of his torso. Then he fell, face forward into the dirt with his mouth open in a soundless scream, the last man to fight for his fallen king. His killer flipped him right-side up with a mean kick; it was disgusting how the youkai lord had treated his men- not a single guardsman within the castle had been old enough to see a day's growth on their face, and not a single guardsmen had been wearing a bit of iron or armor besides their swords. Fuck it, some of them had been wielding training swords, miserable pieces of wood slapped together and wrapped up with a bit of cloth. This supposedly unbeatable kingdom was a disgrace to the youkai name of horror and filth, replacing it with all but pity for the feeble land. But the king knew his men, the elite Hiryuu, would never say a word against the slaughter that had occurred within these foreign lands; because the king would be sure they were well spoiled. After all, the women they had passed by on their trek were not all youkai freaks. Some of them were humans, undoubtedly slaves of their youkai masters and forced into marriage, and not all of them were terrible looking wenches. Indeed, he was thinking of picking up a girl or two as personal servants on his way back. But those pleasantries would have to wait for later.
"Where is the youkai that calls himself king, here? Where is his filthy youkai head?" The king roared, white-flecked spittle shooting out of his mouth. Battle always aroused him slightly past the point of sanity, the fever of the fight, the allure of the enemy's lost blood. It all called to him. He strode through the youkai king's great chamber room, careless about the fallen men beneath his feet, whether they wore foreign colors or not. Either way, each wore the same rictus of pain on their face; either way, each would become the dust they were lying in. It made a man, or king, think about the lives he was throwing away through war, and wondered why the people despised war, when the men that died were just faceless, nameless pawns. In life they were nothing to a king but servants, and in their death, the same.
From out of a nearby doorway appeared a Hiryuu, his plumed helmet and magenta ribbon tied around his arm marking him as a member of the king's elite. He saluted smartly when he saw his king, a sharp fist smacking against dull armor that rang dully in the thick air of the dead castle, and barked, "Your Highness! The youkai lord has been found, along with…" The man droned on, but the king was deaf to all else but the pursuit of the youkai lord, the Inuyoukai, the so-called great and powerful Dog Demon of the Western Lands. He would see the freakish anomaly grovel and beg like his namesake before he would be finished, he would-
He stopped. He was inside the king's personal chamber, a small tacit room past the foyer, outfitted with one bed and one bare chair, lacking any other decorations that would denote it a king's room. The king himself was sprawled upon the floor, his weapon skewed to the side and headless. Next to him, the guilty Hiryuu stood ready with a naked sword dripping crimson blood on the bare stone floor. The king looked stupidly from the guard to the decapitated king.
Rushing in was the first guard, who skidded to a stop just in time to avoid crashing into his king, when he saw the corpse on the floor. "You little fuck! What the hell happened? This man was for the king alone!" He shouted at him, embarrassment and rage both coloring the officer's cheeks.
The sword made a huge crack in the austere chamber, falling from the cadet's suddenly lifeless hands as he stuttered thick apologies to his lord. He never finished them as the king's already bloodied sword chopped his head from his neck. Free from its neck, it spun off spraying crimson dots on both the living men. The officer reeled backward in disgust, bending over when the job was through to puke. "And I ranked you officer," the king's voice dripped with loathing for the weak man. He stepped over to his beheaded victim and spat on his mahogany chest plate. "This man's remain will be quartered, then dragged behind us on our return. You understand?" There was no answer while the retching continued. Unexpectedly infuriated, the king slammed the pommel of his sword on the sick man's neck, right were the helmet and breastplate parted for a vulnerable spot in the armor. With a cry, the officer fell into his own mess. "The king asked you if you understood, now say you understand, or you'll be joining your comrade's sad fate." The king said calmly, watching the man writhe and try to stand. He pressed an iron-booted foot against his bruising neck. "No, no, no. Say it from there. Like the good little soldier you are."
"Y-yes, Your Majesty," The sound was muffled.
"What was that?"
"Yes! Your Majesty! Yes! Please, Your Majesty! I understand!"
"Good. Make sure that you do." The king let his foot up. Immediately, the man struggled up, onto all four like a dog. Just for the crude imitation of the Inuyoukai, the king crashed a booted foot into the soldier's stomach before turning away to survey the dead leader of a kingdom. Anger surged through the king at the lost chance of seeing this miserable piece of youkai suffer in the last moments before life and death. The cadet had made his killing easy, painless. Well, he would have some fun with his nemesis, in life or death, and raised his huge sword above his head, preparing to bring it crashing down on the already severed head of the mutt.
"NOOOOO!" The scream, wrenched from the depths of anguished soul, sounded from behind the king; but his sword was already falling, falling-
CRASH!
The king's long weapon stopped jarringly against another piece of steel straining against the brute force of his arms. In astonishment, wielding a weapon, which was huge in comparison of the creature, was a small youkai, undoubtedly one of the Inuyoukai's bastard children. His small face, framed with silver hair and twin tufts of fluff rising from his head, was straining to hold the sword up. His pale cheeks were blemished by streaks of dried tears, and specks of vivid red.
Curious, the king pressed the sword harder, and the thing careened backwards, unable to take the pressure, his sword slanting, causing the kings to offhandedly scrape against the pup's knuckles, forearm. As the thing cried out in pain, the king twisted his sword, chopping off the top of the creature's left ear. He landed against the Inuyoukai's torso, and screamed when he rolled into the pool of blood where the dog demon's head should have been. He kept screaming, looking from the body to the head to the man above him with the dripping sword to the body to the head to the man to the body-
"Shut up, little bastard!" Giving him a backhand across the mouth, the youkai skidded backwards, knocking his head against the stone wall. The king loomed over him, blocking out the rising dawn's light.
"I'll kill you!" The pup screamed at him. He backhanded him once more, knocking his head into the wall again. The youkai groaned in pain.
"You're the bastard spawn of this youkai piece of shit, aren't you?"
"You killed my father, you bastard hum-" Another backhand.
"If you don't want me to break open that head like I did your father's, you'd better shut up, pup."
Quiet sobbing responded. "Ah, you worthless mongrel." The king spat in the youkai's face before giving him a harder blow that knocked the thing unconscious. Picking it up with one hand, he threw the beast at the officer behind him, and strode out of the chamber, neatly picking up the Inuyoukai's head with the tip of his sword. "Kunshi!" The king bellowed. "Kunshi, come to me!"
A wiry, ferret-like man streaked out of a nearby room, followed shortly by two Hiryuu. He picked his way through the throne room with great care, vigilant not to step on the remains of the dead, as much out of superstition as for caution to his flowing robes. Sneering at the dead men littered about, he even fisted his garments up so that they would not touch a particularly nasty body. With a smooth slide up to his liege-lord, he said oily, "You called, your most delightful Majesty?"
"Clean out these rooms of these stinking carcasses of worthless soldiers. I expect to have a feast here by the next sunrise."
The Kunshi bowed his greasy black head as they walked, allowing the clumpy strands of long hair fall to hide his derisive grimace. "Yes, Your Majesty. As you wish, Your Majesty. Within the next half-day, it shall be done, Your Majesty."
"And do something with the Inuyoukai's pup. I don't want to hear mention of him or his spawn after this day. His kingdom has been fairly destroyed, and is mine now. His family shall be hanged or quartered by the next quarter moon, and records of their existence burned."
"As you wish, Your Majesty." The Kunshi said submissively, bobbing his head further. Then his head jerked backward toward the unconscious youkai being carried before the officer, and he paused a moment before murmuring silkily, his voice conspiratorial. "Perhaps, however, your Highness will consider before killing the pup. He could be … useful… in future negotiations with other youkai kingdoms."
The king's small eyes blinked slowly, then narrowed. His silence stretched on long enough for the Kunshi to duck his head lower, purring apologies. "The Kunshi has overstretched his humble position, your Majesty. Forgive me, forgive this humble servant…"
"Be quiet!" The growing convoy of soldiers had reached the main entrance halls of the enormous castle, gradually growing larger as more of the Hiryuu and main soldier forces finished their fights. Several of them had already claimed their spoils and those who were not enjoying them with muffles and growls within half-closed rooms were dragging their women forcefully with them. These youkai women had a strain of boldness and ferocity within them that was unseen within the human kingdoms, and his own domain. It lit something within the king, and began to stir it into a slow boil as he saw the proud women scratching, biting, kicking at their captors. How would it be to break one of those women, with such fire burning behind their eyes? He held back the urge to tear one of them away from his soldiers and take her to his tent; he would, of course, for Shinju's sake, wait until the decency of dark to find one.
"Majesty?" The Kinshu said, his eyes darting along his lord's line of sight to one of the foreign women. His own face hardened imperceptivity; he had long ago given up such sensual pursuits, even though he had no desire for the other sex; such fleshy quests only would distract the mind.
"Do what you will with the thing for now, Kinshu. We will discuss it in detail later." His Majesty said with a diffident wave, dismissing the issue. Now the King stopped in the middle of the huge castle doors, drawing himself up, the morning sunlight silhouetting his huge brute figure with something akin to the gods' light. Raising his arms, the light streamed around them.
"My faithful soldiers, we are VICTORIOUS!" He heaved the Inuyoukai's head into the air for the roar.
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"…Yes, Your Majesty. No, Your Majesty. Yes, it shall be done within the next day, Your Majesty." The Kinshu droned on and on, actually listening to his lord with only enough of one ear to recognize the line he was supposed to say. He had others that would be doing the actual business expected from him, if there was anything, but naturally they were not apparent within the room, and if they were, certainly not in any form recognizable by the king. Several did not serve just those purposes, but oftentimes worked as eyes and ears within the castle. Although the Kinshu did not know all of those that gathered information for him, those that did report to him had menial jobs that few people would suspect. Two were maids. Another was a cook. It was amazing how much information would be picked up as a trash gatherer, indeed, he relied on that one much for the most reliable intelligence.
Sensing a pause in his lord's orders, the Kinshu prepared his 'advice.' As the advisor, he practically ruled the kingdom for the hulking oaf that sat upon the throne. Reflexively, his mouth twisted into a feral sneer, the Kinshu hiding it by ducking his head to curtain his face with his long hair. Advice. Advice. The damn oaf had to be fed orders to do anything worthwhile; he had to be convinced it was his own idea. Well, the Kinshu had 'advised' the war on the great Dog Demon of the Western Lands, Inuyoukai, he could 'advise' him on matters to the North, with the Demon Lord Naraku and his youkai kingdom. Those freak youkai, too, would fall eventually beneath the Kinshu puppet's fist, and one day… beneath the Kinshu's fist himself. It would take one scoop of food by one scoop of food into the King's mouth, but he would be fed everything.
"Majesty," The Kinshu began, insinuatingly. They were sitting in the great chambers traditionally used to discuss matters of the kingdom, at the large rectangular table that fit the seven Element advisors, the Gogyou Shidouin, as they were called. The Kinshu was the chief advisor, the closest to the king. They were all of them easily corrupted by money, greed, women, power; why else would the Kinshu have selected them for the King to elect? "Majesty. The Kinshu would like to bring up the issue of the youkai child which you brought with you from the Western Lands, the son of the-"
"None will speak that foul name!" The king shouted, spraying spit into the Kinshu's unblinking face while he slammed a palm against the table. It creaked under the brute's blow. The other Shidouin inched back in their oversized wooden seats. Each seat in itself was an ancient work, the Kinshu reflected momentarily. The wood was taken generations ago from a mystical youkai forest, each tree once a body that housed a now-extinct species of tree youkai. A master wood smith had decorated the dead carcasses, molded them for each "Elemental" advisor, and carved into a throne-sized chair. The inherent abilities of the youkai would protect them from ever burning or collapsing. The table, however, was another matter.
The Kinshu bowed his head deeply, touching his chin to the crook of his chest with a slight curving of hunched shoulders. "Forgiveness, Your Majesty. The passage of time is so small as to make so humble a self forget your glorious orders." It rotted his teeth to have to say such a thing to the beast. Everyone should be bowing and scraping to him!
The king grunted. Consent to go on, if not exactly an acceptance of the apology.
The Kinshu tried not to grind his teeth. "Your Majesty. The pup that we have obtained, the youkai. The Gogyou Shidouin and the Kinshu feel as though you have been most wise in delaying his death, especially as relations between the Northern Lands kingdom of Yamiyo, where rules the youkai king Naraku."
The king paused a moment, obviously realizing he had not thought about the captured pup for the past two months since the return from the Western Lands. Nonetheless, he was hardly about to loose face by asking why it was such a good idea to have supposedly spared the thing's life. "And can you, the Kinshu, my most wise man in the entire kingdom, derive 'why' it was another of my brilliant ideas to do so?" The king cleverly baited. Cleverly for a drowning fish. The Kinshu resisted the urge to rip the king's throat out by shuffling his papers before continuing.
"My Majesty, it is obvious to us that you wanted to use the child as leverage in the coming Kairiku Council. After all, who could consider the Eastern Lands hostile to the youkai kingdoms of the Upper Lands when the king has magnanimously adopted a youkai from a conquered youkai land, my lord?"
The king hesitated for a long while at this. "N-naturally," The king said, wondering what exactly had happened. The Kinshu smiled then. It was a strange thing. Even though the king was a veteran of many battles and traveled many different lands, having seen strange and horrific things, the king privately prayed that the Kinshu would never again make that appalling face.
"Well, then, your Majesty. Perhaps the best ceremony date will be…"
It was a beginning. It was a small, tiny beginning, but from the humblest beginnings rose the emperors and warlords of the past, as rose the emperors and warlords of the future. The Kinshu, ducking his head to his lord again, smiled.
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The whereabouts of the pup were obtained shortly after, for even though the Kinshu had taken care that the youkai child was alive for his plans, he was not so careful in how alive the same child would be. It was ascertained that the pup was being held in a prison cell two levels beneath the castle main grounds. When that cell block was then located, another two days had passed and the youkai was finally withdrawn and placed in the uppermost tower.
"This piece of shit isn't even alive any more, Shiduin Daichi." The soldier holding the semi-conscious youkai thanked the gods that he put on his gauntlets this morning. The fucking thing was probably infected with lice or some other youkai-spreading crap like that. He threw the youkai into the room, not caring where exactly the creature landed. It skid across the floor as though it weighed nothing before hitting the wall.
The Shiduin Daichi waved a disinclined hand, more interested in the reports he held in his hands. They were explaining the recent going-ons within the Northern Kingdom, the most powerful youkai kingdom in all the Upper Lands. His eyes-and-ears only recently returned from their various missions; their intelligence was fascinating. The Kinshu would be more than pleased at receiving this- the Shiduin Daichi was sure to expect more than the normal gifts for this. He looked up briefly to motion the caretaker-maids in the room, but remembered in time to memorize their faces. He had not remained Shiduin Daichi by being careless with people and things; that could lead to accidents, especially if the Kinshu began to wonder more about this squat pudgy man. Only an idiot without much longer to live underestimated the Shiduin Daichi as a man too wrapped up in reports and words to forget that he had climbed high enough to become the Shiduin Daichi.
Disdainfully sneering at him, the officer brushed past the Shiduin, making his way back to post in the cell blocks. Slowly following after him, alone, the Shiduin memorized the soldiers face, marking him as one of those idiots. The path to the cell block was long and lonely from here in the abandoned tower, and one solitary soldier would not be missed…
Inside the tower chambers, the caretaker-maids got rapidly to work on the youkai. Although they were tender and would not shirk their duties, they hardly wanted to waste their hours with a youkai beast. He had to be force-fed after the menial and inconsistent food given to prisoners, not to mention cleaned, and fitted for clothes. Despite their ministrations, when they left he had passed out from the activity.
"Okasan… Okasan…"
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"NO NO NO! LET ME GO! I am 'not' the princess! I 'order' you to let me go! Let me GO!" Landing a mean kick between the legs of one of the guards, the little raven haired girl dashed off like a hound after rabbits. Her bustling large skirts flared out behind her in an imitation of the hair that was progressively becoming undone. Streaming out wildly like a silky black flag, she wrestled with the braid her maid had attempted this morning with one hand, while throwing a wicked right handed punch. The bystander that previously blocked this little girl's path crumpled with a low groan, then curled up even tighter when she used him as a carpet.
"I refuse to wear this stupid braid! I refuse to go to this stupid celebration at all! I don't even have a stupid brother! I won't have one! I REFUSE!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, rushing down the stairs, into the ladies wing, where the female guests of her parents stayed.
She slowed only long enough to knock on all of the doors in the hall, before proceeding down the other staircase at the end of the hall. Startled gasps and some screams accompanied the opening of doors as the very delicate women of the castle came in contact (often painful) with the very determined pursuing guardsmen. Suddenly bursting into giggles as the stairwell opened into yet another hallway, this one lined with enormous tapestries, and stretching on as far as she could see, the little girl skipped her way down the passageway. Daintily dragging her fingertips along the right wall, she stopped when her fingers pressed against air, not stone. Carefully, she slipped behind the tapestry, just as the soldiers managed to detangle themselves from the distraught women and rush down the stairs, streaming past her hiding place in their hunt. "Kagome-hime! Please, your Highness, we do not have time for this today! Kagome-hime!"
A feral grin passed across her young face, and she turned to the hidden passage which the servants used to travel with their orders so quickly, whistling softly to herself. The passageway was lit with torches, but otherwise it was bare of any decorations or warmth. Every now and then the way would turn into a shadowy darkness wherein a door would lie to enter a certain room. Confident in her abilities, Kagome followed the way, trusting her princess-instincts to lead her back to her chambers eventually.
Eventually turned into eternity. Afraid of being punished, she avoided the servants by ducking into the side passages; afraid of being eaten by rats, she darted away from shadows.
"I am not lost. Princesses don't 'get' lost. I am not lost. I am not lost… MOMMY!" She wailed into the darkness, finally slumping down onto the dirty floor, forgetting what maid said about getting her pretty dress filth-covered. She was going to die alone, as a princess never should, on the day she was going to meet her brother, and mommy would be 'so' mad. So very mad. Something in front of her scuttled in the shadows. With a shriek, Kagome scrambled backward. When her head hit a low doorknob, she fumbled with it, hearing the thing draw closer, creeping in the darkness to eat her, open open open-
Kagome fell inside the door, sprawling on bare stone floor. The sound was drawing even closer- she slammed the door shut on her knees, breathing heavily. She was safe. The rats could not get her here, wherever here was.
"Did you just fall out of that tapestry?"
Kagome whirled around with another short scream. Before her stood a boy, clothed in the finest.
A boy. With pink-tinged ears on his head.