Hello. I'm still working on this darned story. Okay, I've got chapter
five, and a fourth of chapter six. I am so dead! I usually get to the
climax before I lose it. Well, I've lost it and I am no where near the
climax. I am so dead.
You know, I was looking at what I have posted, and I noticed that I have nine chapters, and four of them are notes. Almost half of what I have posted are author's notes! I am so sorry my friends! Please excuse that. I will try to post less notes up, okay?
To:
GoddessLD: Thanks for joining the party over here! Sorry it's confusing. I have question and answer sessions if you can come up with a specific question. And don't worry about Inuyasha and Kikyo. It's over really quick. Actually, read on!
ChristyKay: Once again, thanks for your support. I counted, and of 13 reviews on this story, you submitted 7. That's (Runs for a calculator) over fifty percent of my reviews, close to sixty percent.
AND THE AWARD OF MOST REVIEWS GOES TO: CHRISTYKAY!!!
In other words, thanks! ^_^!
My teachers have always told me a plot line goes up and then down. MINE DOESN'T!! Mine goes up, up, down, up, up, up, down, down, down, up, up, down, end. Or something like that. That's really fun too, you reach an end to one problem and another arises. HOW FUN IS THAT???
I REALLY need to stop rambling. SORRY!!!
HAVE FUN WITH THE NEXT CHAPPIE!!!!
_____________________________
Sesshoumaru leaned out the window, stretching his cramping, healing legs. The air was thick and muggy at night but was buggier during the day. The entire outpost building was open air, giving maximum comfort in the jungle heat.
He glanced at the bed further back in the shadows and his face softened to see the soft movement of his sleeping charge. She looked like her mother, soft and yet determined. Dark eyes and dark hair and pale skin may have been common among her people, but she was anything but common. He had seen that her mother had been a gorgeous woman. Rin would be a beautiful young woman.
Sesshoumaru turned his head as he heard a soft sound outside Rin's door. Just Jaken. He had insisted on guarding the door. The fool; if a clan member wanted to kill her, they would not knock on the door and ask to enter. They would slip in the window and rip her apart in bed. He should know.
He was glad he had made it very clear to Jaken that he, Sesshoumaru, was in charge. That fool could not protect a fly.
Sesshoumaru looked back out the window and smiled slightly. The night was quiet and the moon was hidden. The time when every clan member was either asleep or on a raid. He doubted that they would raid this outpost this early. The clans would attack only when certain of the weakness and victory over a people strange to them.
His eyes landed on a movement, but he did not see anything. Suspicious, he watched the area before he saw a flash of silver.
Long silver hair. New prisoner that looked like Inuyasha. Late at night. 'Escape!' Ghost-like, Sesshoumaru slipped out of the window and followed the escaping prisoner. Any soldier who saw him would have called him a wraith.
Inuyasha did not have much faith in himself, he could see; he kept to the shadows and avoided the guards. Suddenly, Sesshoumaru saw that he was racing across an open space. Taking the chance, Sesshoumaru leaped. There was only snarls before Sesshoumaru had Inuyasha pinned. For a moment the two men stared at each other before Inuyasha moved to speak.
"If you are here on a raid, Sesshoumaru, I will have to stop you," Inuyasha hissed.
"You are really not in a position to be stopping me," Sesshoumaru replied calmly. "And, it is cowardly to try to escape from imprisonment like you were."
One thing he knew of Inuyasha was that he hated to be called a coward, and he was right. He had heard Inuyasha yell before, but never had he heard him scream so angrily. Unfortunately for the young man beneath him, he had pinned him well. Nothing Inuyasha did could pull him from Sesshoumaru's grasp.
There were the sounds of feet as the compound awoke to his yell. Inuyasha smiled wickedly. "Well now, Raider, you've been caught."
"You are mistaken," Sesshoumaru answered, his own cruel grin sliding onto his face. "While you are a prisoner here, I am a guest and a guard here." Inuyasha did not believe him, and he knew he would not, but he had warned him, had he not?
"Sesshoumaru! What's going on?" Rin called, running to him on light feet. Inuyasha's face took on a look of horror as he saw the general's daughter run up to him and stop short, a hand over her mouth in shock. "Sesshoumaru?"
"He was trying to escape," Sesshoumaru answered.
"Not that! You've re-opened those wounds!" Rin cried. He looked sheepishly at his legs to see red seeping through the bandages. "Guards," Rin commanded to the guards that had run with her, "take him to Mother; Jaken, get Kyode!" She gently placed a bandaged hand on his shoulder and Sesshoumaru shuddered at the light touch. A flicker of torches became obvious as the guards that had come with Rin secured Inuyasha.
"Mother!" Rin called. "Come quickly!" The general was soon visible, along with her other two daughters. Like Rin, the other young women were still in their night dress with their hair out of the confines that they secured it to in the day.
"What happened?" Kaede demanded.
"It seems he was trying to escape, and Sesshoumaru stopped him," Rin explained. Kaede looked to Sesshoumaru for verification and he gave it with a curt nod of his head.
"Desertion is usually forty lashes the next day. What should it be for escape, my daughters?" Kaede asked. She turned to look at the two older girls as Inuyasha let out a strangled cry.
"Twenty on the spot," Kikyo answered suddenly. Kagome turned an open mouth to Kikyo in shock, and Inuyasha struggled to break from the men holding him. Kagome looked at the charged man as he fought to get at her sister. It was only Kikyo, though, that he seemed to want to get at, not even her mother. In his eyes there seemed to be hurt almost, rejection. Kikyo did not even seem surprised by his attack. Suddenly, it hit her. Kikyo had let him out. She had gotten him to trust her, and now this!
A scream of pain jolted her from her thoughts. A man was now behind the bare-chested escapee. He held a cat o' the nine tails and was preparing to flail it again. It fell and then rose. Rin was buried in Sesshoumaru's steady shoulder, possibly crying. Blood was already flowing at two lashes. (1)
It rose and fell. A hand was on her shoulder, steadying her. She had not even noticed she had been swaying. Turning, she looked into Shippou's bright eyes filled with sympathy.
Four. Five. A hand was rubbing her back. It was larger than Shippou's, and she turned to see the Captain Hojo absently rubbing her back, his eyes glaring at Inuyasha coldly.
Six. Seven. Inuyasha was shaking and gasping for air now. Why could not Kikyo just admit she had let him out? Blood was pooling at his feet and staining his meager clothing. Because Kikyo did not want to get in trouble.
Eight. She could not take it any longer. She tore herself from the comforting hands and ran toward him. The whipper paused in his beating and jumped back as she threw her arms around Inuyasha's neck. "Stop!" she screamed. "Stop! It must be my fault he got out. I must have forgotten to lock the door!" It was a flat out lie, and she knew her mother would know it. She dug her fingernails into her palms and kept her arms tight.
Inuyasha's heavy breathing was just at her ear and she felt a shudder run down her spine. She was not comfortable with his face so close to hers, or was she?
"Fine," Kaede said suddenly. "No more. Take him to his cell. Kagome, I want to talk to you."
Slowly, almost reluctantly, she pulled away and followed her mother, shooting her older sister a glare. Unbeknownst to her, Inuyasha saw it. His mind was dulled from blood loss, but he could understand what had passed.
Kagome had gotten herself in trouble for him. She had been careful to lock the door; he knew that. As he felt hands grab his shoulders to take him to his cell, he fought to debate one question: why?
Why would she lie to her mother? Why would she get herself in trouble purposely? Why would she do it for him? He had been so rude and invaded her space.
Why would Kikyo let him out and not even attempt to help him? Why had she condemned him herself? Why would she even use him like that?
Suddenly, he found himself on all fours as the soldiers that had helped him down to his cell closed the cell door roughly. As they walked away, muttering about some military matters, he could feel the torch light leaving.
His arms were shaking from his loss of blood; a tickle announced another river of blood on his arm. Visions danced in front of his eyes as blackness threatened to take over. 'No!' he thought. 'I have to find out why!'
It was a losing battle and finally, he collapsed on the stone ground back up.
"Why," he murmured. "Kagome, why?"
_________________________
Kaede was slow and deliberate in her steps. For the first time in her life, Kaede was confused. Why would her daughter lie for a man as dangerous as this prisoner? Kagome rarely lied, and usually, it was for little things, but this! This was anything but little!
Kaede glanced back at her daughter and felt a tug of guilt. Kagome looked like a murderer going to the execution. Kaede silently rebuked her demeanor before and slowed to walk beside her daughter. Kagome did not look up and only continued wringing her hands. Kaede smiled at her daughter. Kagome was beautiful, though she might not know it. Oh, what a beautiful woman Kagome would make.
"Kagome, dear, relax. Today is not your last. I was going to ask you a few questions in my office, but I can see that you are shaken up by the whipping, and tonight is so lovely, let's just walk outside," she suggested. The moon was out from behind a cloud and bathed the world in a silver light, so Kaede waved away the torchbearers. Kagome only nodded to her mother and continued in fidgeting with her hands. Of all of the nervous motions, Kaede hated that one the most. She cleared her throat pointedly and Kagome stopped instantly. "Kagome, why?"
Kagome looked up with a bewildered face, but Kaede could see her slight amount of fear. "Why what, Mother?"
Kaede shook her head at her. "Why did you lie?"
Kagome dropped the innocent act immediately. "It was the best way to make you stop and keep Kikyo from getting angry at me," Kagome muttered, looking away.
"Kikyo?" Kaede repeated, pondering. "How does she fit into this?" Kaede could guess, but it was better to hear her daughter out.
"I am almost certain that Kikyo let him out, and if she was not going to own up and would let him get beaten, then I'd lie to stop it," Kagome answered, her voice surprisingly passionate. "Mother, Inuyasha is still getting over earlier wounds, and now any more blood loss will kill him! I had to stop it before he died." Kaede smiled slightly. She admired her child for compassion, yet she hoped there was nothing deeper. The prisoner was, after all, still affiliated with other clans, and she never trusted those clans.
"I see. Kagome, it's late my dear. Go back to bed," Kaede said comfortingly. Kagome nodded and slowly walked down the path. As she was, Kaede saw a shadowy figure appear and run over to walk beside her. Under her breath, Kaede added, "take care of her, Shippou."
_________________________
(1) Cat o' the nine tails: very ugly whip (Shudder). It is a flail (multiple whip ends) and is covered in bone, glass, sand. It is very scary, and I know Inuyasha will sulk for weeks because of this.
Inuyasha: DARN RIGHT I WILL!!!!!
Me: (Groan.) So, Inuyasha is mad at me. Be happy, buddy. You'll like a part that's coming up.
Inuyasha: What do you mean?
Me: This is a romance, right?
Inuyasha: So?
Me: Think for a moment, will you?
Inuyasha: (thinks hard) Do you mean.?
Me: Yes.
Inuyasha: (BIG HUGE GRIN) YAY!!
Note to anyone who is interested in my idea in the last chapter: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM IS UP!!!!
I have nothing else to say, except for one thing:
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!
THANKS!
~ Kay Kylo
You know, I was looking at what I have posted, and I noticed that I have nine chapters, and four of them are notes. Almost half of what I have posted are author's notes! I am so sorry my friends! Please excuse that. I will try to post less notes up, okay?
To:
GoddessLD: Thanks for joining the party over here! Sorry it's confusing. I have question and answer sessions if you can come up with a specific question. And don't worry about Inuyasha and Kikyo. It's over really quick. Actually, read on!
ChristyKay: Once again, thanks for your support. I counted, and of 13 reviews on this story, you submitted 7. That's (Runs for a calculator) over fifty percent of my reviews, close to sixty percent.
AND THE AWARD OF MOST REVIEWS GOES TO: CHRISTYKAY!!!
In other words, thanks! ^_^!
My teachers have always told me a plot line goes up and then down. MINE DOESN'T!! Mine goes up, up, down, up, up, up, down, down, down, up, up, down, end. Or something like that. That's really fun too, you reach an end to one problem and another arises. HOW FUN IS THAT???
I REALLY need to stop rambling. SORRY!!!
HAVE FUN WITH THE NEXT CHAPPIE!!!!
_____________________________
Sesshoumaru leaned out the window, stretching his cramping, healing legs. The air was thick and muggy at night but was buggier during the day. The entire outpost building was open air, giving maximum comfort in the jungle heat.
He glanced at the bed further back in the shadows and his face softened to see the soft movement of his sleeping charge. She looked like her mother, soft and yet determined. Dark eyes and dark hair and pale skin may have been common among her people, but she was anything but common. He had seen that her mother had been a gorgeous woman. Rin would be a beautiful young woman.
Sesshoumaru turned his head as he heard a soft sound outside Rin's door. Just Jaken. He had insisted on guarding the door. The fool; if a clan member wanted to kill her, they would not knock on the door and ask to enter. They would slip in the window and rip her apart in bed. He should know.
He was glad he had made it very clear to Jaken that he, Sesshoumaru, was in charge. That fool could not protect a fly.
Sesshoumaru looked back out the window and smiled slightly. The night was quiet and the moon was hidden. The time when every clan member was either asleep or on a raid. He doubted that they would raid this outpost this early. The clans would attack only when certain of the weakness and victory over a people strange to them.
His eyes landed on a movement, but he did not see anything. Suspicious, he watched the area before he saw a flash of silver.
Long silver hair. New prisoner that looked like Inuyasha. Late at night. 'Escape!' Ghost-like, Sesshoumaru slipped out of the window and followed the escaping prisoner. Any soldier who saw him would have called him a wraith.
Inuyasha did not have much faith in himself, he could see; he kept to the shadows and avoided the guards. Suddenly, Sesshoumaru saw that he was racing across an open space. Taking the chance, Sesshoumaru leaped. There was only snarls before Sesshoumaru had Inuyasha pinned. For a moment the two men stared at each other before Inuyasha moved to speak.
"If you are here on a raid, Sesshoumaru, I will have to stop you," Inuyasha hissed.
"You are really not in a position to be stopping me," Sesshoumaru replied calmly. "And, it is cowardly to try to escape from imprisonment like you were."
One thing he knew of Inuyasha was that he hated to be called a coward, and he was right. He had heard Inuyasha yell before, but never had he heard him scream so angrily. Unfortunately for the young man beneath him, he had pinned him well. Nothing Inuyasha did could pull him from Sesshoumaru's grasp.
There were the sounds of feet as the compound awoke to his yell. Inuyasha smiled wickedly. "Well now, Raider, you've been caught."
"You are mistaken," Sesshoumaru answered, his own cruel grin sliding onto his face. "While you are a prisoner here, I am a guest and a guard here." Inuyasha did not believe him, and he knew he would not, but he had warned him, had he not?
"Sesshoumaru! What's going on?" Rin called, running to him on light feet. Inuyasha's face took on a look of horror as he saw the general's daughter run up to him and stop short, a hand over her mouth in shock. "Sesshoumaru?"
"He was trying to escape," Sesshoumaru answered.
"Not that! You've re-opened those wounds!" Rin cried. He looked sheepishly at his legs to see red seeping through the bandages. "Guards," Rin commanded to the guards that had run with her, "take him to Mother; Jaken, get Kyode!" She gently placed a bandaged hand on his shoulder and Sesshoumaru shuddered at the light touch. A flicker of torches became obvious as the guards that had come with Rin secured Inuyasha.
"Mother!" Rin called. "Come quickly!" The general was soon visible, along with her other two daughters. Like Rin, the other young women were still in their night dress with their hair out of the confines that they secured it to in the day.
"What happened?" Kaede demanded.
"It seems he was trying to escape, and Sesshoumaru stopped him," Rin explained. Kaede looked to Sesshoumaru for verification and he gave it with a curt nod of his head.
"Desertion is usually forty lashes the next day. What should it be for escape, my daughters?" Kaede asked. She turned to look at the two older girls as Inuyasha let out a strangled cry.
"Twenty on the spot," Kikyo answered suddenly. Kagome turned an open mouth to Kikyo in shock, and Inuyasha struggled to break from the men holding him. Kagome looked at the charged man as he fought to get at her sister. It was only Kikyo, though, that he seemed to want to get at, not even her mother. In his eyes there seemed to be hurt almost, rejection. Kikyo did not even seem surprised by his attack. Suddenly, it hit her. Kikyo had let him out. She had gotten him to trust her, and now this!
A scream of pain jolted her from her thoughts. A man was now behind the bare-chested escapee. He held a cat o' the nine tails and was preparing to flail it again. It fell and then rose. Rin was buried in Sesshoumaru's steady shoulder, possibly crying. Blood was already flowing at two lashes. (1)
It rose and fell. A hand was on her shoulder, steadying her. She had not even noticed she had been swaying. Turning, she looked into Shippou's bright eyes filled with sympathy.
Four. Five. A hand was rubbing her back. It was larger than Shippou's, and she turned to see the Captain Hojo absently rubbing her back, his eyes glaring at Inuyasha coldly.
Six. Seven. Inuyasha was shaking and gasping for air now. Why could not Kikyo just admit she had let him out? Blood was pooling at his feet and staining his meager clothing. Because Kikyo did not want to get in trouble.
Eight. She could not take it any longer. She tore herself from the comforting hands and ran toward him. The whipper paused in his beating and jumped back as she threw her arms around Inuyasha's neck. "Stop!" she screamed. "Stop! It must be my fault he got out. I must have forgotten to lock the door!" It was a flat out lie, and she knew her mother would know it. She dug her fingernails into her palms and kept her arms tight.
Inuyasha's heavy breathing was just at her ear and she felt a shudder run down her spine. She was not comfortable with his face so close to hers, or was she?
"Fine," Kaede said suddenly. "No more. Take him to his cell. Kagome, I want to talk to you."
Slowly, almost reluctantly, she pulled away and followed her mother, shooting her older sister a glare. Unbeknownst to her, Inuyasha saw it. His mind was dulled from blood loss, but he could understand what had passed.
Kagome had gotten herself in trouble for him. She had been careful to lock the door; he knew that. As he felt hands grab his shoulders to take him to his cell, he fought to debate one question: why?
Why would she lie to her mother? Why would she get herself in trouble purposely? Why would she do it for him? He had been so rude and invaded her space.
Why would Kikyo let him out and not even attempt to help him? Why had she condemned him herself? Why would she even use him like that?
Suddenly, he found himself on all fours as the soldiers that had helped him down to his cell closed the cell door roughly. As they walked away, muttering about some military matters, he could feel the torch light leaving.
His arms were shaking from his loss of blood; a tickle announced another river of blood on his arm. Visions danced in front of his eyes as blackness threatened to take over. 'No!' he thought. 'I have to find out why!'
It was a losing battle and finally, he collapsed on the stone ground back up.
"Why," he murmured. "Kagome, why?"
_________________________
Kaede was slow and deliberate in her steps. For the first time in her life, Kaede was confused. Why would her daughter lie for a man as dangerous as this prisoner? Kagome rarely lied, and usually, it was for little things, but this! This was anything but little!
Kaede glanced back at her daughter and felt a tug of guilt. Kagome looked like a murderer going to the execution. Kaede silently rebuked her demeanor before and slowed to walk beside her daughter. Kagome did not look up and only continued wringing her hands. Kaede smiled at her daughter. Kagome was beautiful, though she might not know it. Oh, what a beautiful woman Kagome would make.
"Kagome, dear, relax. Today is not your last. I was going to ask you a few questions in my office, but I can see that you are shaken up by the whipping, and tonight is so lovely, let's just walk outside," she suggested. The moon was out from behind a cloud and bathed the world in a silver light, so Kaede waved away the torchbearers. Kagome only nodded to her mother and continued in fidgeting with her hands. Of all of the nervous motions, Kaede hated that one the most. She cleared her throat pointedly and Kagome stopped instantly. "Kagome, why?"
Kagome looked up with a bewildered face, but Kaede could see her slight amount of fear. "Why what, Mother?"
Kaede shook her head at her. "Why did you lie?"
Kagome dropped the innocent act immediately. "It was the best way to make you stop and keep Kikyo from getting angry at me," Kagome muttered, looking away.
"Kikyo?" Kaede repeated, pondering. "How does she fit into this?" Kaede could guess, but it was better to hear her daughter out.
"I am almost certain that Kikyo let him out, and if she was not going to own up and would let him get beaten, then I'd lie to stop it," Kagome answered, her voice surprisingly passionate. "Mother, Inuyasha is still getting over earlier wounds, and now any more blood loss will kill him! I had to stop it before he died." Kaede smiled slightly. She admired her child for compassion, yet she hoped there was nothing deeper. The prisoner was, after all, still affiliated with other clans, and she never trusted those clans.
"I see. Kagome, it's late my dear. Go back to bed," Kaede said comfortingly. Kagome nodded and slowly walked down the path. As she was, Kaede saw a shadowy figure appear and run over to walk beside her. Under her breath, Kaede added, "take care of her, Shippou."
_________________________
(1) Cat o' the nine tails: very ugly whip (Shudder). It is a flail (multiple whip ends) and is covered in bone, glass, sand. It is very scary, and I know Inuyasha will sulk for weeks because of this.
Inuyasha: DARN RIGHT I WILL!!!!!
Me: (Groan.) So, Inuyasha is mad at me. Be happy, buddy. You'll like a part that's coming up.
Inuyasha: What do you mean?
Me: This is a romance, right?
Inuyasha: So?
Me: Think for a moment, will you?
Inuyasha: (thinks hard) Do you mean.?
Me: Yes.
Inuyasha: (BIG HUGE GRIN) YAY!!
Note to anyone who is interested in my idea in the last chapter: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM IS UP!!!!
I have nothing else to say, except for one thing:
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!
THANKS!
~ Kay Kylo