Chapter 3: First Good Deed

Prince Inu Yasha was shocked. He was frozen to the spot. He was practically having a heart attack. He was remembering and drowning in the past. He was staring at the girl he loved.

The girl who betrayed him. The girl who nearly killed him and his family.

In a sense, she had killed the young prince. His soul, happiness and emotions died of a broken and betrayed heart, of sadness, anger, and hopelessness.

There, below the balcony, on the stage dancing and singing, was the one girl he loved--- Kikyou Mitawaki. Yet, it was impossible.

'She's dead. She has to be! I saw her die! I saw the guards take her down, stab her to death. I saw her blood pooling on the marble floors, her lifeless eyes that stared into nothing, her pale face. I heard her promise to get revenge... Revenge... is that her ghost, her soul, here to take my life? Is it really her? Can it really be her?'

'Oh. My. God. That's Kikyou! How...Why... I thought she died! I was there, with Inu Yasha that day. Her words were so cold, so fierce, so evil, promising to finish her mission. I don't sense anything out of the ordinary...no souls...no ghosts...nothing. It's like...Kikyou's...alive...But, how can that be?...' Miroku, having noticed Inu Yasha's state of staring, had followed his gaze and also saw the girl on the stage.

For the remainder of the song, the twosome sat there, leaning over the balcony, straining their necks, almost decapitating themselves in the process, but they didn't care. They had to get proof that this was or wasn't the Kikyou Mitawaki they knew once. The girl that worked as a maid in the King's honored household, secretly planning to kill and assassinate every one of the King's high family.

Unfortunately, at the end of the song, as the guests cheered, clapped and toasted to the newcomer that went around pouring wine for them, there was not a single hint of the answers they searched for. Right now, they saw her as Kikyou Mitawaki.

** ** **

"Mother, what is the background of this newcomer you house?"

"M'Lord Inu Yasha, you know clearly well that I do not question my daughters of their personal life when they come into my house. I'm afraid you'll have to ask Lady Phoenix yourself."

"Lady... Phoenix... I see, bring her up. The Prince and I will question her."

"Um, forgive me for being nosy, but since this involves my daughter, what might you be intending to find out?"

"Cut the crap, bitch. Do as Lord Miroku says and bring the girl up. Now."

"Y-Yes, M'Lord..."

The two Lords sat quietly together, dreading the worst of what might come, their minds making up dozens of answers; from the logical and expected, to the far fetched and completely impossible.

"You called for me, M'Lords?"

"What's your name?"

"Honored Prince, my name is Lady Phoenix."

"Not that name, girl. And don't play your games of sweetness and service with me! I demand to know your sur name, name and the name of your hometown!"

"Inu Yasha! Calm down! You're scaring the people here!"

"I- don't- care!"

"M'Lord, what kind of monk are you?"

"Excuse me?" Miroku raised a questioning eyebrow as InuYasha huffed and crossed his arms.

"Are you a monk of forgiveness and mercy, knowledge and sharing, or a corrupted, deadly and ill-mannered monk?"

"I am a monk of forgiveness and mercy, knowledge and sharing. Now, will you ple-"

"What kind of lord are you?"

"My lady, will you please focus on-" Miroku's brows were beginning to furrow, and InuYasha's twitching eyebrow wouldn't be helping matters anytime soon.

"Miroku! Teach her her place for talking back to us! I'm getting annoyed. " Just as expected, an outburst from the oh-so-might Prince.

"... Inu Yasha, in order to do punish her, I must judge her- I cannot just lay the whips upon her back. I am currently judging her."

"What is there to judge? She spoke rudely to and interrupted a prince and lord! Is that not enough of a crime for a commoner? Much less a girl working in a place such as this? Are you a lord of an entertainer, or a lord of the royal family?!"

"My point exactly. Lord Miroku, please answer: what type of a lord are you?"

"Hah! Like that's hard to answer! You truly are a stupid human. Hmph. I'll let Miroku have some practice with his debating skills, and see how long you last. Oi, Miroku, are you a lord of an entertainer or a lord of the royal family, hm?"

"Of course I'm a lord of the royal family!"

"Then there's nothing to argue about, Lady Phoenix. Ha! Miroku, hurry up and teach her a lesson if you truly are what you said you are."

"Ye-"

"Lord Miroku! Are you a lord of Parents*, or a lord of the royal family?" (*a lord of Parents-a lord that is "parent" to the people of the kingdom. This is more important, to a good and true lord, than to be a lord of the royal family)

"... I am a lord of Parents."

"Are you honest to my question or not?"

"You have my word, Lady Phoenix. I am a lord of Parents, and I very much cherish my people."

"You lie."

"Miroku doesn't lie when he gives his word!"

"If it isn't he that lies, you both lie."

"How is that, bitch?"

"Inu Yasha, I rather like this argument. May we continue and then deal with her punishment?"

"Whatever."

"Then please let her explain."

"If he were truly a lord of Parents, he would not have agreed hastily to 'teaching me a lesson' solely due to the request of a member of the royal family, but would have respectfully argued to continue his judging. Second, he wou-"

"The hell? Who're y-"

"I don't ever recall it being prince-ly to interrupt one's explanations. Especially in court."

"Inu Yasha, I hate to admit it, but she's right. Though this ain't a court, it holds the same significance right now, as we are judging."

"Keh."

"Continuing, Lord Miroku would not be a lord of Parents, as he is doing nothing to stop the guest on the balcony across from us to stop forcing the young servant girl." To emphasize her point, she elegantly pointed her finger across the clearing where the stage on ground level was visible, to the struggling 13 year old servant girl who was currently being stripped of her outer clothing, her mouth gagged and bleeding from a slap when she rejected the youkai customer.

The youkai's companions laughed and cheered the snake-like creature. Their slaves, nicely built and well fed, clad in black shirts, pants and boots, a red silk sash tied securely at the waist where katanas were safely and conveniently kept, stood not far behind them in a wall-like formation, cutting off any help for the girl and anyone from entering and disturbing their masters' fun. The crossed arms, legs apart, sneer on face and glare in eyes were and added plus to further discourage any trespassers.

The threesome, aside from the daughter of the Phoenix Clan, were so absorbed in their little debate that they had not heard, with the demon ears they had, the whimpers and choked sobs of the frightened girl. As Miroku turned his head and looked back at the newcomer of the brothel, he was surprised that the previous sharp-tongued female arguer now had anger and pleading in her emotional blueberry colored eyes. Anger towards the bastards that toyed with the innocent girl, and pleading towards him to help the girl.

'This girl,... is nothing like the timid, calm and calculating Kikyou. They cannot be the same people. This girl has a heart of righteousness and love. Kikyou had one of hatred and hidden plans of suffering.' With a curt downward motion of his head, he turned and strode to the opposite side of the second floor, following the building's frame-like formation.

It was then that he noticed the joking and cheering faces of the other youkai there. It disgusted and saddened him to know that youkai such as he could be so heartless to innocent children. Though this girl was eligible to be married off, she did not deserve to be robbed of her pureness and happiness. He also noticed that she did not look to be a serving girl in the brothel. Another point goes to why he should stop the hideous troublemakers. If she were part of the brothel, it could be argued that they could be let alone to do whatever, but if not part of the brothel, it was a snap of the fingers away to kicking out the snakelike creatures.

With his demon hearing, he could hear the soft footsteps of Lady Phoenix. It was odd, though. Her steps were much lighter than a normal person's. Even that of a dancer. It was like she too, knew martial arts. He was curious, but he wanted to stop the group ahead as soon as possible, so he decided to ignore the nagging feeling. As he neared, his anger boiled, but he managed to conceal his emotions and keep his face one of superiority and calmness, wise and full of strength However, the anger traveled and shot out of his grape-violet colored eyes, scorching the slaves and making their boldness waver, then back down whimpering and flinching from his path.

Inu Yasha had stayed at the opposite side, so it was just Miroku and Lady Phoenix, though he wondered what she was doing. One of the personal slaves, looking up from an offered feel of their squirming victim, saw Miroku's approach and straightened, then leaned down to announce the arrival of the royal advisor. In turn, the other personal slaves noticed and also informed their maters. Much to the slaves' distress, the masters paid no heed and continued to stroke and grab. Glancing at the glaring lord, they hastily bowed continuously, eyes on the approaching monk, all the while whispering pleads to the masters to pay respect so that they might go home body fully intact and breathing regular.

The demons sneered, hissed and glared, daring them to act cowardly, encouraging them to be bold once more and care nothing of the high-ranking lord now less than 7 meters away. Taking comfort in the masters' confidence, the attitude of being on top of the world and the assurance of being backed up by powerful masters led the slaves to once more take a stand of ground in front of their masters.

"Stop this show of senseless childish play! Who gave you the right to interfere upon the life of an innocent child and the lives of the people here by doing such a hideous deed? She belongs not to this brothel, and is not entitled to any of you scum bags, I would say."

"Bull! Who the hell," jab of finger, "gave you," jab, "the right to interfere," jab, "upon the joy of Young Master Gnoa," jab, "son, of, the, great, strong, respectful, high, mighty, Lord Gnoa?" Purposeful jabs of the slave's finger followed each of the last ten words. Although he was an inch or so shorter than Miroku, he looked up at him with a smirk that said: "And what are you gonna do 'bout that, you worthless piece of crap?"

Glaring down coldly ten times the amount of when he came, he could only loosen up his composed figure slightly, then turn respectfully to the master of the overconfident slave, head still held up high. Bowing not the least willingly, he stood once again and said through cleanly cut sounds of his deep rich voice: "I knew it not to be you, Young Master of the honored Gnoa family. Though you are of higher standards than I, I must insist that you let be this child."

The young master glared.

He hissed, he scowled. "And why, oh-lower-ranking-beggar-of-a-lord, would I, son of the great warrior lord, listen to you? You admit your disgracing stands yourself. Do you think you can order me around? I do what I wish. Muta! Take this dirty pile of rags and throw him out the door!"

"Hai!"

As the young master turned back to his joyful torturing, the slave signaled approached to push Miroku away from the area, back outside the circle of privacy for the masters.

As Muta approached Miroku after successfully pushing him and the fuming lady behind him out of the circle, he reached a muscled hand out to grab the color of the monk's purple and black outfit.

Miroku, his face still a mask, calmly and fluidly grasped the incoming hand with his own right hand, in a fashion identical to a male helping a female out of a carriage, where Miroku was the female. But, instead of the male helping the lady down, it would also be opposite in Miroku's show of "kindness." The second his hand locked around the slave's, he pulled the opponent's arm to the right of his body in a close arc, snapping his wrist up so that the palm of Muta's hand faced the ceiling of the second floor. Miroku continued the pulling arc further behind him, until the surprised target fell forward toward the Lord.

As he fell, Miroku's left hand extended in the formation of the eagle claw---fingers bent at all joints, crating a crater like area of the palm, palm down--- and captured the wide-eyed human's neck in a death grip in the space between the index finger and the thumb, his nails, though blunt like a human's, dug into the fleshy neck enough to cause discomfort and fear of one's throat being torn out. In the fifth second of his movements from the beginning, he easily tossed the rigid slave over the side of the balcony where they stood, all the while not moving an inch of his upper or lower body, except for his arms.

It had only taken a total of 6 precise seconds to give the human an experience of "flying free like a bird," and when his 3 second trip was over, he found himself with an unmendable hole in his chest, courtesy of a metal chandelier that consisted of ornate spikes and hooks.

Looking coolly at the remaining thirteen slaves, he dared them to come as one.

They accepted.

And they got the truth.

Lady Phoenix watched as Miroku let a man run right past him by making a 90 degree left turn, then lifting his right hand, guiding the eagle claw formation to the front of the first man's throat while the victim ran past. Though this twisted the monk's arm somewhat, it gave the royal advisor more force when he quickly contracted his hand at the elbow, the victim facing his left in front of him, and continued on to "twirl" the victim's body away in a curt push outward.

Because of the slight twirl and the position he had changed to, instead of sailing over the balcony like the first to approach, the slave landed horizontally on two oncoming opponents, knocking all three down and unconscious for various reasons. As Miroku was throwing the first slave, the second approacher had already reached him, and his left hand shot out to block the punch thrown, forearms locking where they met.

As he continued to throw, he tilted his left arm downwards from the upper direction it had been in to lie almost flat in mid air, then proceeded to push the opponent's arm left in a circle. However, he did not complete the circle. When they locked, with him in lead, they reached the opposite end of where it started, arms upright, and his fist shot out, giving the bald headed male a wonderful opportunity to take a breath of fresh air, sailing right through the wood framed windows and onto the street below, where he fortunately landed in a passing wagon of pineapples... but still rendered unconscious due to the wonderful fruit's hardness.

Lady Phoenix was impressed. Who would have known that such a monk would possess such wonderful skills in fighting? She watched as a high kick directed at the said person's face registered in the mind of the monk, who's position was currently that of a father inviting a toddler of a daughter in for a hug- arms spread out at opposite sides, the ending product of the two throws. Reacting quickly, the Lord lifted his own right foot up to meet and match with the opponent's. The soles met with a dusty "whap!" and the red sashed fighter's knee bend inward due to the force of the monk extending his own knee to keep the opponent's away.

Not only did he keep it away, his extending went downwards, therefore the opponent's knee smashed forcefully into the cliff of the neck, knocking the wind out, and snapping his head back. In the same motion, the suffering contestant was pushed onto his back, where the monk used his foot as a step to somersault into the air and land on the opposite side of the width of the space between wall and balcony. In doing so, his inner force was set into the step--in this case the foot and knee of the fallen fighter-- and the bones of the foot shattered.

Miroku could have chosen to only use 30% of his inner force on the already injured man, but he was very angry at the lot right now, so he decided that he'd boost his forces to 40%. In this way, he was still giving them mercy.

Fortunately, the three that had gone down first had remained unconscious, apparently due to the cracking of a skull, awhack in the back of the head, and possibly the broken ribs stabbing into inner organs, as Kagome observed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two lunge at her, and pretended to play the girlish, weak, and terrified entertainer- she screamed.

"Kyaaaa!!!!!!"

Turning his attention to the screaming and singer, his earlier suspicions of her knowing the arts of fighting where burnt to ashes as he went to her rescue. The one that had been thrown out the window before was starting to awake, but the two bodies that landed on top of him gave him another irresistible invitation to Lala Land. The remaining six had learned their lesson.

Or so it seemed when they backed off in stances that screamed "defensive!" and exchanged glances at one another.

Miroku watched in amusement, while helping up the trembling dancer and gently pushing her to the side as they drew their weapons; it seemed they were visiting Lala Land even before their pineapple-loving companions.

His eyes now holding mockery and laughter, he grabbed his own staff from where it leaned at the balcony to his right, and held it horizontally in front of himself at chest level, arm stretched out. When the six rushed him all at once, their blades connected heavily and soundly with Miroku's staff, the gleaming metals sending off icy reflections in the sunlight. From the rush, Miroku had had to change his foot stance, and now he stood slightly bending forward, left foot in a wide step in front of his right, balancing himself while he stood his ground, as well as giving him a secure footing. Smirking, he concentrated on the chi he was passing through the staff. In the next second, the six were flung straight into walls, tables, and a few joining their companions outside.

Stepping back so that his left foot met again with his right, he proudly dusted himself off, rearranged his robes a bit, and once again marched to the now gaping group of youkai.

The group cowered before him, and he looked down at them with annoyance plainly written on his handsome face. Scowling, he grabbed the young master by the collar of his clothing, and punched him square in the face, still not letting go. When the spoiled demon son's head came lolling back to face him, the blood from his broken nose had traveled to his mouth and tainted his dirty yellow teeth red.

Pulling his face towards the whimpering younger one's, Miroku hissed: "Although you are of higher rank that I, I'll not stand to see innocent people injured because of your stupid foolishness!" With that, he flung him over the edge of the balcony, the bloody creature landing with a sickening thud.

Turning calmly to the group backing away, he waved his hand dismissively towards the stairs, where they scurried down and out the door, bowing their heads as low as possible as they passed.

During this time, Lady Phoenix had already calmed the little girl, who at the moment was clutching onto the front of the newcomer's shirt front, whimpering and shaking, staring fearfully at Miroku. As the aforementioned monk bent down to examine the girl in Lady Phoenix's lap, reaching out to pat her head, the girl seemed to think that Lady Phoenix would somehow become a hole and swallow her up, away from the strong monk--sqeezing her eyes shut, tears flowing freely, whimpering, and stuffing her head into the older girl's chest.

"Let her recover a bit from the shock first." Kagome said, tightening the embrace that comforted the sobbing girl.

Nodding, Miroku sat down across from the two, already back to his normal perverted self, and started looking at Kagome in places she really did not approve of. Glaring across the table at the "thoughtful" (what a good word to describe it) monk, she soothed the relaxing girl by singing a short nursery rhyme while rocking back and forth. As the crying stopped, she tried her best not to mind Miroku's ever-growing smiles at her:

"Are you better now?" The little girl nodded. "What are you doing at a place like this?"

"Papa works 'ere, an' Mama tol' me ta give'im his lunch. She couldn't do it 'cause she's sick. Papa's workin'ere so 'e can get money ta pay fer the money we're borrowing for medicine. They say 'at if Papa don't pay 'em quick, they gonna skin my baby sister alive an' burn our house down..." Breaking into a new set of tears, Lady Phoenix continued to soothe her.

Unable to stand it any longer, she said: "My Lord, if you drool anymore, I'm afraid you'll flood the entire kingdom."

Chuckling sheepishly, he nodded, regaining his posture from the previous slumped form he was in when "observing."

"Where's you're Father?" he asked the girl.

"M'Lord, he's the room cleaner for the second floor. I dun know where he is right now'ough." Nodding again, he called a guard over and told him to summon the room cleaner for the current floor they were on. Once he was found, the reunited father and daughter cried for a bit, thanking the monk and Kagome repeatedly after the little girl retold what had happened in between sobs.

Apparently, the people that the debt was owed to was that same demon as the one that had been assaulting the little girl. Fuming, Kagome made a mental note to torture the demon before killing him the night she went to end his life. Miroku liked the way this female entertainer stood her ground for things she knew was right, and so let her off the hook this once, making the annoyed Prince fume at having to look at a girl who so resembled the one he loved every day he came.

** ** **

That night, Kagome slipped out of her day clothes, and switched to her night, black fighting clothes. As she wound all of her hair up into a bun, she put on the black cloth handkerchief that acted as a mask for the lower half of her face. Then she put on the thin black cloak she used to travel at night in (not the thick traveling one) and draped the hood over her head, hiding everything else.

Finally, she took her bow and full quiver, sword and daggers and placed them comfortably where she preferred them- bow and arrows slung onto her back and buckled securely, sword in her left hand and daggers in her boots, sleeves, and various other places.

Once ready, she double checked, then blew out the candle and swiftly leapt to the roof of the brothel, where she traveled. Leaping from roof to roof, she carefully located and followed the streets and roads that she had found and memorized from a map during the day. Reaching her destination, she made several short leaps to land on the taller roof of the Gnoa mansion. Peering down at the main courtyard, she saw several guards walking their routes with torches or lanterns in hand. Silently fast walking to the inner courtyard, she waited for any sign of which way the young master's room was.

Luckily, the young master himself, drunk and arm around a personal whore, stumbled into plain sight, heading towards the bedrooms to the east. Stalking quietly, she watched as the staggering two made their way inside, the female talking sweetly into his ear, sucking up so that she could get more gifts. After a while, the candle was blown out and moaning could be heard.

Rolling her eyes, Kagome dropped a small pebble from her pouch of pebbles, onto the ground below. "Using the rock to ask for directions." It was an old trick for night travelers such as she. Hearing the clatter of the stone hitting water, she smiled at the success of such a small test. Now that she knew there was water below her, she would not jump from here. Moving silently along, she stopped a few meters away from her previous location, now on the roof right above the window. She repeated the process, and learned from her pebble friend that it was safe to land.

Landing as a black shadow outside the window, she carefully drew her sword, making the usual quiet "shing~" sound. Counting in her heart, she broke through the window and stood with her sword at the demon's neck at three. However, the slight pause was only for the sake of making sure she had the right person. Once the victim was confirmed, the blade would be drawn back and the target dead. The whore screamed the entire time, but Kagome paid no heed.

Luckily, the woman's screaming did not drown out the sound of thundering feet. Leaping up, Kagome broke through the roof and ran, hearing shouts around her that signified that they had seen her. Demon slaves leapt onto the roof in front and behind her, all armed. She stopped mid stride, her left foot in the air behind her, and immediately ducked a swing of an axe, falling forward. As she did so, her left foot shot out, knocking away the one behind. Jumping back up, Kagome made a swing with her blood stained sword, chopping off the head of axe-man.

"Whhhooouup!"

The sound of an arrow echoed in the air, and Kagome felt the wind near her ear grow cold for a few seconds. Cursing in her head, she urged herself forward, mindful of the whips, knives, swords, and arrows coming her way. Finishing off the remainder on the roof, she located the archer, hidden in the bushes below. As she leapt for the outer wall, she turned around in mid air and shot her dagger.

The dagger had done it's job, catching the archer right through the throat, but so had the archer. Kagome winced as she landed on the roof that lined the mansion on her back. Rolling quickly to her feet, she pulled the arrow out of her shoulder, she then ripped a piece of cloth from the sleeve, tying it around her wound to prevent blood loss. Sheathing her sword, she hurriedly made her way back to the brothel. Unfortunately, she was unable to give the bastard a painful death, thanks to the screaming woman.

** ** **

"My son was murdered last night, Your Majesty. I am very concerned about this matter."

"Yes, of course you would be. He was your only son."

"Not just that. The assassin was a human female, that much we could tell. We were unable to track her, though she was hurt."

"Oh? Did she use gas to disable your noses or something?"

"No, Your Majesty. She has no scent."

"No scent? That cannot be possible. Even if she covered her scent on the outside, she cannot cover it when she bleeds! It's impossible!"

"Apparently, it isn't."

GLOSSARY


*youkai=*sigh* c'mon! You had it last chapter!! It's the equivalent to demon/monster/and such
*chi=inner force, otherwise known as ki in japanese...I think...

AN: Oh, yay! Chapter three! I'm not really satisfied with the slow pace at which my story is going though. But I've made a decision- next chapter you will have a) your answer about who kikyou is; b)Kagome kicking more ass; c)Intro to Sango! Also, I realize that you may think that the rating is a bit low, but let me say something first before you review and complain: If you actually read or watch Inu Yasha (which i suppose you do), then I personally think that the rating is fine. If after that you still think otherwise, then fine, review and complain. As well, I hope I haven't confused anyone by using different types of ways to address people, for example when I switched from "entertainer" to "dancer" to "singer" to daughter of the Phoenix Clan" for Kagome. I sorta picked it up from a really good Greek Mythology book. I thought it sorta gave variety. Sorry again if I did! As for character in character, let me see... right now, Inu Yasha is acting like when he found that Kagome had seen him and Kikyou together-book 18, episode... I dont remember...- he is depressed and sad, yet still with his tough guy mood. Kagome is more outfront in terms of less scared of things like... like... um... *light bulb lights up* like youkai! yeah.... hm... i think Miroku's ok...

anyhow, thanks for reading! I'll try to get th next chapter out next week, if i get enough time to work on it. Bye! And now I'm truly begging for reviews or emails! ~__~

Disclaimer: Go find the definition for fanfiction.