Disclaimer: All characters in this chapter except Rika belong to the lovely Rumiko Takahashi.


¸.·´¯`·»¸.·´¯`·» The Last Princess «·´¯`·.¸«·´¯`·.¸

A Fic by Eden

¸.·´¯`·»¸.·´¯`·» Chapter Three «·´¯`·.¸«·´¯`·.¸
¸.·´¯`·» A Burning Touch «·´¯`·.¸




Kagome eyed the youkai lord up and down, finally resting her icy glare on his golden eyes. He's GORGEOUS! she inwardly blurted out. Mentally berating herself, she scowled at the sudden thought, not liking how it had crept up on her.

Sesshoumaru watched with interest, a smirk tugging at his lips. He noticed a number of unknown emotions quickly flashed through the girl's eyes as she scowled at herself. As quickly as the expression had appeared, it vanished only to be replaced with cool indifference.

"Where are my things?" she demanded.

"Do you know who I am, girl?" he questioned sharply.

"Of course I do, Sesshoumaru," she sneered. "Now where are my things? And who dressed me?" she repeated.

"I assure you, wench, your items are safe, and I dressed you," Sesshoumaru answered flatly. Apparently she isn't afraid of me.

"Why did you take them?" she bit angrily, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You must think me a fool to leave them with you. I wouldn't allow you the opportunity to attack me; I've seen they way you fight," he replied coldly. Her insolence was starting to get to get to him.

"So, you were spying on me," she stated, one eyebrow arched in disbelief.

"If you'd like to put it that way, then yes. Though my intentions were different," he drawled, patience at its last bit.

"What makes you think you have the right to go about SPYING on people?" she snapped narrowing her eyes as she poked him harshly in his chest.

Suddenly she found herself held in the air by her neck, eyelevel with the growling youkai, feet inches off the floor. She growled right back, though it came out less threatening than she'd have liked, due to the strong grasp around her throat.

"Never lay a finger on me again, wench," he growled out, voice dangerously low. "Or I will kill you."

Kagome huffed, her tail flicking roughly in annoyance. "Let go of me," she choked out.

When he didn't comply, Kagome's eyes flared as her anger got the best of her. She did something Sesshoumaru totally unexpected—she punched him. It wasn't a girly punch either. It was a full-fisted manly punch connecting squarely on his temple, effectively causing him to release her. The area she struck left, in Kagome's opinion, a beautiful shade of red, which would rapidly change to a bluish-purple.

Landing softly she stumbled back gasping for air as her hand massaged her throat while Sesshoumaru massaged his temple.

The two pointedly glared at one another, Kagome raising her head in defiance. In the blink of an eye, the two were at it again, Sesshoumaru swiping Kagome's face with his claws, Kagome punching him again, this time aimed for the gut. Both blows connected, and Kagome's hand shot to her face, blood seeping between her closed fingers as Sesshoumaru stumbled back a bit grasping his stomach. Her punch had been surprisingly strong.

At that moment, Jaken entered the room. The toad looked with shock between Sesshoumaru and Kagome; slowly piecing together what'd supposed had happened. Glaring at Kagome, he stalked forward and hit the back of her head with his double-headed staff.

"How dare you, wench! Look what you did to Sesshoumaru-sama!" he exploded, face turning an unnatural shade of orange in the process.

Growling, Kagome lifted the toad in the air with her tail and proceeded to throw his small body against the wall, knocking him out. Stalking out of the room, Kagome stormed through the halls, seething. She needed to relieve her anger somehow, and the only two effective ways were by soaking in a bath, or sparring.

Not caring where her feet took her, Kagome let herself wander aimlessly, passing many rooms of the large palace. Eventually she found herself in the garden where Rin and Shippou were playing.

"Kagome-chan!" giggled the kitsune, receiving a soft smile from still-boiling Kagome.

"Hello Shippou-chan. Who is your pretty little friend?" the woman indicated to the young human girl.

"I'm Rin!" stated the girl cheerily.

"Hello there, Rin-chan," Kagome chuckled lightly. "Say, do you happen to know where I may take a bath?"

Rin's face lit up at being asked to do something. Grabbing Kagome's hand, the enthusiastic child led Kagome toward the bathroom, which happened to be near Kagome's room, Shippou following.

"Sesshoumaru-sama saved Rin," the girl said warmly as they walked. She obviously had a lot of affection for the cold-hearted youkai. "Wolves killed Rin and Sesshoumaru-sama brought Rin back to life!"

"Oh? How did he do that?" Kagome asked, eyebrows rose. Something like that amazed her, as it was common knowledge the Lord of the Western Lands wasn't too keen on humans. And that was putting it lightly. So why would he have a human child in his home, let alone save her life?

"Rin doesn't know, but that's okay. Rin doesn't care!" came the happy child's reply.

By then, they'd reached the bathroom, and Rin and Shippou left Kagome whispering to each other.

"Rin thinks she is pretty!" came Rin's whisper.

"Yeah, I told ya so!" Shippou answered.

Smiling to herself, Kagome stepped into the room and gasped. It was similar to the bathroom of the palace she lived in as a pup. Then again, she thought to herself, I shouldn't be surprised. He does have money, after all.

It wasn't a separate house built around the hot spring, like most bath areas. Instead, the large room was an add-on to the grand palace. A large pool was built around the actual spring. White tiles lined the walls of the pool, covering the entire area except the spring. It was like a hot tub.

A large closet held many towels and bathrobes and various little containers full of liquidy substances. Sniffing gingerly at the bottles, Kagome realized they were items used to wash with. (A/N: I'm sure they had stuff like this in some form or another ^_^)

Good, she thought. At least he knows the concept of clean. That small detail slightly surprised her, as many youkai felt it unnecessary to bathe. She, however, thought it absolutely imperative—she hated being dirty. Actually, most inuyoukai shared that feeling. She supposed Sesshoumaru was no exception, but then she sometimes forgot he was an inuyoukai—she'd only met him a few times.

Grabbing the bottles, Kagome undressed herself and stepped into the hot, soothing water, the last of her anger fading away.

As she washed her hair and body her thoughts averted to Sesshoumaru and the human child, Rin. She wondered why Sesshoumaru had her in his care. The youkai seemed the type to like the quiet. Rin was anything but that; the child loved to talk. In fact, she talked so openly. And she was human. Kagome had nothing against humans, but she figured Sesshoumaru did, based upon the things she'd heard about him.

If anyone found out Sesshoumaru had a human in his care, his image would be ruined, Kagome snorted to herself. But maybe I'm being too hard on him with my judgment, she thought. After all, what I've heard of him has only been idle banter from frightened humans and weak youkai. But then again, not many youkai, no matter how strong, would want to be on the receiving end of his power.

Numerous thoughts ran through her head. Thoughts like why he had been watching her. Why he had carried her to his home instead of leaving her. Why he had bothered to bandage her wound.

He is so confusing! her mind screamed. And this is getting me nowhere! Her tail flicked in annoyance, creating slight waves in the water.

Sighing, Kagome sat down. Closing her eyes, she fell into a meditation in an attempt to clear her mind.

She had almost completed her task when she was rather rudely brought out of her trance when someone roughly slammed open the door.

That someone had been Sesshoumaru.

"What are you doing, wench?" he snapped.

"Knitting a sweater," she said calmly, a tinge of sarcasm staining her voice, causing Sesshoumaru to growl.

She stood, wrapping her tail around her waist and covering her chest with her arms in modesty and waded out of the pool and over to the closet.

Sesshoumaru was still in the room watching her intently as she grabbed a robe and towel, dressing the robe around her body and wrapping the towel around her hair.

Turning around, she smirked at him as she walked by gracefully. Without saying a word, she exited the bathroom and headed for her own temporary quarters.


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It had been a week since Kagome's initial arrival to Sesshoumaru's home and the ninja actually found herself enjoying her time, though she and the demon lord had yet to carry on a conversation. Neither had seen each other since her first bath. She'd play with Rin and Shippou in the gardens, educating Rin in the areas of the world that Sesshoumaru apparently felt uncomfortable with explaining.


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"Kagome-oneechan?" Rin began.

"Yes, Rin-chan?" Kagome answered absently.

"Where do babies come from?" the little girl asked innocently.

Kagome jerked her head up and raised her eyebrows as she looked at the child. She noticed Shippou trying not to laugh. Rin reminded Kagome of her younger self, asking her mother a very similar question.

"Well…" Kagome began thinking of a way to explain. "They come from women, much like you and I, only from you when you're older."

Rin looked confused. "How?"

"Well it involves a man and a woman," she tried to explain. "The give each other a special hug, and something happens. The man has something the woman needs, and that special hug gives it to her. Nine months later, the baby is born."

"Oh…" Rin looked disappointed, but accepted the answer.

"You look upset," Kagome pointed out amused.

"No…but whenever Rin asks Sesshoumaru-sama, his face gets red and he refuses to talk about it," Rin explained.

"I see," Kagome laughed.



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Kagome had also found the youkai lord's training room and found herself there quite often. She'd even made a friend, a sixteen-year-old human servant girl named Rika.

Kagome had met Rika coming back from a bath one day. Rika hadn't quite finished tidying Kagome's room when the ninja came back. Needless to say, the young servant had been frightened for her life when Kagome had walked in and stared at her.


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"I-I-I'm terribly s-sorry," she had sputtered, as she bowed to leave. Kagome stopped her.

"You don't have to leave," Kagome smiled at the girl. "It'd be kind of nice to have someone to talk to other than children. I mean they're great, but so young. And Sesshoumaru…well, let's not get into that. Besides, he's probably too hot tempered to carry on a decent conversation," she grinned

The girl gaped at the youkai speaking to her and quickly shut her mouth. "O…Okay," she said timidly, sitting.



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After the two had met for the first time they'd quickly become friends, which was a shock in itself, as Kagome usually never allowed anyone the chance to get close to her. Maybe Rin and Shippou are having this affect on me, she thought. Kagome found Rika's company quite pleasant as the girl was intelligent and had a lot of interesting things to tell her, mainly things about the Western Lord himself.


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Rika and Kagome were sitting in Kagome's room drinking tea.

"Sesshoumaru-san's father died several years back, when I was about three. He was mortally wounded by a demon named Ryuukotsuei and died from the blood loss. Sesshoumaru-san's mother, howver, died when he was just a child, though the cause was unknown," she'd informed Kagome. "From what I've heard, they were very close."

Kagome looked at Rika confused. "What do you mean? No one knows how she died?"

"No," Rika continued. "They know it wasn't from old age; she was simply too young, even by youkai standards. And she apparently seemed to be in good health. There were also no physical injuries detected on her body, so it really confused everyone. How could a young, vibrant woman, especially a youkai, die so suddenly?"

"Yeah, good point…" Kagome trailed off, deep in thought. She'd never heard of someone so healthy die so suddenly.

"Speaking of which," Rika began. "That's her up in that picture."

She was pointing to the picture of the woman and child on the bridge.

"I should have known…he inherited her looks," Kagome pointed out.

"This was her room, too," Rika stated matter-of-factly. "The kimonos you adorn had belonged to her as well."

"I see…" was all Kagome could say. It really amazed her that Sesshoumaru would allow her to occupy his mother's room and dress in her cloths. There was definitely more to him than she'd thought originally.

"Anyway, after her death, his father, Inutaisho-san, took a new wife, a human princess. They had a hanyou son. I think his name was Inuyasha," Rika finished.

A strange look had crossed Kagome's features.
Is she speaking of the Inuyasha I met? she questioned herself silently.

"Something wrong?" Rika asked hesitantly.

Looking up, Kagome smiled. "Not at all," she reassured the young servant, absently sipping her tea.
So, Sesshoumaru lost both his parents as well…


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Though she was enjoying herself, Kagome was irritated to no end by one thing: Sesshoumaru still had yet to return her belongings. The two hadn't even seen each other. She hadn't been thinking long when he walked into her room one afternoon.

"May I have my things back now?" she asked calmly.

His eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because I, unlike many people," she referred to Inuyasha, "am reasonable. I do not attack without a purpose, and I have no intention to attack you, Sesshoumaru."

He studied her intently. "Don't you want to know how you came to be in my home?"

"Well, yes, I do, but seeing how you've not been around for me to ask until now, I hadn't gotten the chance to inquire," she said dryly. "So enlighten me."

"As you graciously put it, I was spying on you. In actuality I'd been waiting for that miserable hanyou to come so I could claim something that rightfully belongs to me," he began when Kagome interrupted him.

"You mean Inuyasha? What would he have that belongs to you?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes I mean Inuyasha, and what he has of mine does not concern you," Sesshoumaru growled. "Anyway, you came along and ruined it all. Inuyasha, in his never-ending idiocy, attacked you. You know the rest from that point to where you passed out."

"So elaborate," she said when he paused. "What happened after I passed out?"

"Well, what was the last thing you remember?" he asked.

The youkai princess thought for a moment then finally looked up. "The last thing I recall happened after that centipede disappeared with half of the Shikon no Tama. Spider heads surrounded Inuyasha and Kouga and soul stealers, many of them, were charging at me. Then I blacked out."

"Hmm…I see," he stated. "Well, you were beginning to transform, then suddenly stopped when a blue aura surrounded you. You killed not only the soul stealers, but the spider heads as well, and you didn't use your weapons and claws."

Kagome's eyes narrowed in confusion at the last bit. "What are you talking about? I didn't use my weapons?"

"No, you used your hands," he said dryly. "Some sort of power erupted from them and incinerated the demons you attacked. You honestly don't remember?"

"…No…" she murmured, slightly amazed at Sesshoumaru's patience.

"Anyhow, after you killed them, you fainted. So I brought you and the kitsune pup to my home. Inuyasha ran after some woman named 'Kikyou' screaming her name, and that insipid wolf passed out from spider head poison. He'll live," he added, noticing the look on her face.

"Oh…" she drawled. Then a sudden thought struck her. "Well, if you were so worried I'd use my weapons on you, what made you think I wouldn't use my power?"

Sesshoumaru looked thoughtful for a moment. "Good question; I just knew."

"Oh. Well, may I have my things back?" she asked once again.

He nodded, and disappeared. When he returned, he had with him Kagome's belongings—her weapons, garbs, and the Shikon half. Kagome thanked him and went to grab her stuff, but when she touched the Shikon, she froze as a violent pain surged through her body. Gasping, she fell to the floor in a dead faint.






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A/N: Hmm…I guess this chapter was okay…not my best work. Below you'll find some replies to my reviews, but I'm not going to reply to everyone. I'll mainly reply to the people who asked questions.

|[lilmoonshinegurl]| Thanks for reviewing! I promise you'll find out soon who saved her in the prologue.

|[Shaz]| Yeah, the other characters will appear soon…I'm slowly working into the story as to how I see fit. Thanks for your review!

|[Me..]| Hehe actually I've played all the Final Fantasies, but I've been obsessed with Ninjas for as long as I can remember. So when I played the American version of FF4, which is FF2 here, I was thrilled to see the Edge because he was a Ninja. I got my swords, Masamune and Murasame, from him; they're the last two swords he gets in the game (keep in mind that this is the SNES version of the game…the names of everything are totally different in the PSX remake).

|[holly]| yes, Sango and Miroku will show up. You can't have an Inuyasha story without them! ^_^ They'll appear in chapter six as far as I know…I know, it's far away, but hey, I'm working on my outlines and stuff and I'm still not sure if I want them there. So who knows! They may appear sooner.

|[shikome kido mi]| Thanks so much for that note about the caltrops…I didn't know what I should use it as, but now I do. Thanks!

|[The Fool's World]| Hey thanks for the review! To me, Inuyahsa has always come off as impulsive and acting before thinking. So he attacked Kagome because he smelled her youkai scent and thought she'd attack him, so he attacked her first, totally not knowing she had no evil intentions. So yeah, he attacked because he's impulsive. Kouga wasn;t staying with Kagome at her home…he just thinks he can walk in as he pleases! ^_~

|[Cacat-angel]| yeah, I decided that Kagome was too OOC, so I changed her character a little. She's sweet and warm and caring under her façade, but it doesn't take long to find it. Shippou, Rin, and an OC of mine (a human named Rika) bring out her caring side. That's in like, chapter four and stuff. She's not as cold as I would have expected, and I'm pleased about that.

TO EVERYONE ELSE: I know a lot more of you reviewed and I really really appreciate that! But if I replied to everyone, I'd have to write like 40 responses. But after this chapter, I promise I'll keep on answering all of my reviews.

Okay, that's about it for my chapter. REVIEW!! It'll make me feel better about my writing…

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I know I did…I also got to see the San Francisco 49ers play against the Seattle Seahawks! We won! It was my first live pro football game, so I had a lot of fun.