Disclaimer: I do not own Rumiko Takahashi's Inu-Yasha or the Brother's Grimm's "The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich," which served as inspiration for this little fanfic. I do, however, own a giant jawbreaker on a stick.
The Hanyou Prince
Chapter 2
…Meets the Hanyou Prince
"Kikyo…"
This amazing vision in front of Kagome abruptly became all too real. After hearing the dead princess' name uttered from his raspy throat, she pulled herself back to reality and said, "What? No!"
Between his tone of voice and the look in his amber eyes, Kagome was at a loss to see what he was thinking. She thought she saw a mixture of longing, regret, and…was that hurt? flash through his face before settling on anger. "No need to lie. Why are you back? Come to reject me some more for something I'm not responsible for?"
Kagome's face shifted from startled to indignant when she said, "Hey! I may look like this Kikyo girl, but I'm not her!" She pointed to herself and exclaimed, "My name is Kagome. Ka-Go-Me!"
He looked uncertain for a moment, and then drew in a deep breathe, taking in her scent. Due to their close proximity, Kagome stiffened in reaction to this act…Is he…smelling me?!
"You're not her," he stated flatly, shocked that his heightened senses were telling him the difference in the two women's scents. He scowled before continuing, "I should have known. Kikyo was prettier. And smelled better, too," he added as an afterthought. His head snapped up as he looked for something currently unseeable in the distance. "We've got company."
Kagome stamped her foot down in rage, shouting "Are you always this rude? And what…company…?" Kagome's voice trailed off before she whipped around, attracted by a large thudding noise and the rushing of many feet in the distance that had finally reached her human ears. It was coming from the castle perimeter and not the castle itself, causing Kagome's face to pucker in confusion. Why would the guards be rushing here? she mistakenly thought mere seconds before having her body slammed down into the ground at an alarming speed.
~+~
Inu-Yasha gritted his teeth in frustration. He recognized the youkai, a female centipede, full of brute strength but not much in the brain way of intellect. His instincts were all but shouting at him to take down the attacker, but he found he was still held fast: the arrow was still in his chest. He began to call to the girl, with half a mind to order her to remove the arrow and another half a mind to see if she was all right after that hit from the centipede, but was interrupted by an echoing voice.
"Where is it? Give me the Shikon no Tama!"
The centipede wrapped it's lower body around the girl, shaking her to attention. Kagome lifted her head, stared the centipede straight in the face and shouted "It's not yours to have!"
Inu-Yasha's eyes widened marginally at the audacity of this girl, whose aura was beginning to shine with a bluish light. Now he had a gut feeling that this girl was not in control of that light, and that it may not mix well with the youkai blood in the centipede – or himself. Just as he began to shout, "Oi, wench!..."
Kagome's head swiveled towards him to deliver a look of irritation before it slipped into shock as her was thrown up in the air. Apparently, this attacker took Kagome's words as a challenge, and allowed its instincts to seek out one of the sources of this power emanating from the girl; Kagome shrieked as she felt teeth rip through her side, and a strange sense of release as she watched the Shikon no Tama burst from her body.
After dropping to the ground, the princess raised herself up on her arms, ignoring the screaming pain as she reached out towards the jewel that was the cause of this all—
When suddenly she found herself pressed up against the hanyou and the Goshinboku tree. The centipede youkai, uninjured and naturally quicker, sensed that the boy was not currently a threat and chose to wrap Kagome up next to him, keeping the little threat she now posed at bay. Kagome, in her exhaustion and loss of the Shikon no Tama, was no longer able to project the same purifying powers she had earlier.
Inu-Yasha observed the centipede demon as it gloated to itself over its new treasure. He said, "You old bag. You're not that strong. How long do you think you'll be able to keep other youkai from trying to snatch the jewel from you?"
The centipede woman rolled her head back and laughed, a deep disturbing laugh that echoed through the clearing. "Fool. Why concern yourself with other youkai when you cannot even seem to move yourself from that tree? I'd like to see you try and take this from me before I deliver it to its rightful owner."
Kagome's attention, meanwhile, had been drawn back to the arrow imbedded in the hanyou's chest. If she stretched out her right arm…just…enough…she could reach it and pull it out.
Inu-Yasha noticed the girl's actions and exclaimed, "What are you doing? You think you could take this seal off?" This triggered a memory, of a similar woman in this very clearing…If you can find someone who would bind themselves to you and love you as a hanyou, it might be enough to break this enchantment placed on you.
Kagome, not noticing the faraway look the hanyou's eyes took on for a moment, cried out, "If I can free you, you can take care of this youkai!"
"Feh," began Inu-Yasha, his mind quickly calculating. If this girl was capable of breaking the seal…then she might be capable of breaking the enchantment that had made him a hanyou in the first place. But Kikyo, whom he had known and trusted, had rejected him in this form. How could he ever get this girl to help him out? A solution – of sorts – sprang to his mind and he found himself saying, "I'll help you exterminate this demon, and I'll get you back your stupid jewel. If you'll…" Kagome was certain she saw a look of apprehension and…was it embarrassment? pass through the hanyou's countenance before he quickly finished, "if you will promise to marry me, and take me in as your intended."
The girl gasped, a sound a complication of pain from the centipede's ever-tightening grip and a realization of the complications of a promise such as that – her word was her bond. She hesitated for a moment before resolutely nodding her head and simply stating, "Yes."
"Yes?" Inu-Yasha could not help the befuddled tone his voice held as though he could not comprehend the reasons behind the girls answer. Then the situation at hand came rushing up in a blast as his hanyou body began to feel the effects of the centipede's grasp. If he was beginning to feel pain, then the girl must have said yes simply to be out of pain. The scent of her blood tickled his nose as he began to understand the wrongness of his ultimatum.
Quickly beginning to doubt his manipulation of the situation, Inu-Yasha held his breathe as the girl's hand reached its target, and he felt the arrow simply disappear from his body in the girl's hand in a rush of light as she shouted, "We will not die here!"
Badum.
Badum.
Badum.
Inu-Yasha felt the strength coursing through his muscles as he prepared to launch himself at the base youkai before him. He did not notice the girl sliding down to the base of the tree when he could notice his claws, previously unused, slashing the skin of his enemy to the point of dismemberment. He only ceased his violent actions to reach at his side and draw the katana he had relied upon so often as a human, and looked only at the youkai before him as he split its body in perfect halves. This was when he noticed that something was off; the Tessaiga, the sword that had been passed down through his family for so many generations, did not have the appearance of the sleek and sturdy katana he so well knew the look of. Instead, it resembled a giant demon fang, white fur blowing about gently in the breeze at its hilt. It was only was the parts of the centipede woman began to wither to ash and bones that he heard Kagome cough and sputter before weakly sighing, "The Shikon no Tama. "
Inu-Yasha shook himself out of his reverie and placed the sword in its scabbard; that was something best left till later to think about. He picked up the jewel and hesitated for a moment. Its size was misleading, for even Inu-Yasha, untrained in sensing kehai, could feel its power pulsing. For a moment it called to his demon blood, causing his heart to race with thoughts of claiming the jewel and using it as fuel for power. Shaken by these disturbing images that had flown through his head at a mere touch of the Shikon no Tama, Inu-Yasha took the jewel and wrapped it in Kagome's hand before saying, "You better watch out for this."
Kagome's eyes opened wider, studying this hanyou she was now bound to. She thought it might be too much to hope that he was acting caring after his rudeness and odd demand in the face of danger – and she was right.
"Feh. With your skills, we'll probably going through this every damn week."
Kagome glared at him for a moment before glancing at the castle. "We should head back to the castle…there is much to be explained."
She went back to pressing her hand against her wound, thinking about the situation she had gotten herself into. She was momentarily dazed when she felt one strong arm wrap around her waist and the other pull her free hand over his neck. When she looked up at him, he was staring right in the direction she had arrived from, his mouth set in a tight line. "Come on," he said, "it will be faster this way." As they made their way down the path, Kagome absentmindedly allowed her free hand to rest on the silky silver hair while wondering about this conflicted hanyou she was bound to marry.
~+~
"Lady Kagome!"
Kagome felt relief flood her heart; she had not been so pleased to see anyone as she was to see Miroku at this moment under the awning of one of the many entrances from the garden to the palace. "Miroku!"
"Lady Kagome…" the houshi began, taking note of the silver-haired hanyou supporting the princess. His violet eyes swiftly zeroed in on the blood still leaking from the wound the girl was applying pressure to. "What has happened? And who is this?" Miroku's tone came out harsher than intended, but that was to be expected between the injury and the stranger before him.
Inu-Yasha stiffened, trying to determine what sort of a threat this man might pose. Kagome, quick to defuse any sort of a situation that might arise, moved the hand she had previously had wrapped around her new fiancée's neck for support and placed it on Miroku's arm. "It is all right. I did not mean to worry anyone earlier by slipping out…" She quickly relayed the events that had transpired, and felt more calm once she felt Inu-Yasha's arm, still wrapped around her waist as support, relax slightly.
Miroku nodded. That the Prophecy Girl would be found, and a few short months later the Hanyou Prince of the fairy tale to be discovered hidden on the ground and reawakened, did not seem to faze the man. "It is fortunate you were able to help the princess in her time of need. For this, we are eternally thankful." The houshi delivered a bow, rendering the couple uncomfortable, as Kagome had yet to reveal the reason why Inu-Yasha had agreed to help.
Inu-Yasha was poised to mention this, but Kagome quickly cut in asking, "How was this youkai able to attack on the ground? What happened to the lines of guards? Is everyone all right?"
The monk shifted from one foot to the other before admitting, "It seems that this centipede woman who assaulted you must have taken advantage of a temporary weakness in the castle guard…during the shift change, a few other low-level youkai caused a disturbance on the east end of the grounds, drawing the forces away from the west end you had wandered to. In fact, Lady Sango and Lady Kaede are still dealing with that situation." Eyeing her wound and the protective stance Inu-Yasha held, the houshi stated, "However, now is not the time for you to attend to those matters. Let us get you to your room, and I will tend to your wounds until Kaede returns." Miroku stretched out an arm, a gesture intended to signal a transfer of the weakened girl from the hanyou to the houshi. The arm was slowly drawn back as he noticed the harsh glare Inu-Yasha threw at him.
Kagome, noticing the exchange and tiring quickly, admitted, "Miroku…circumstances were such that…Inu-Yasha is my intended. I gave him my word in exchange for his help with the centipede woman and the retrieval of the Shikon no Tama. My word is binding." Inu-Yasha looked at this woman who was obligated to him, trying to decipher the tone in her voice before registering just exactly what a state she was in. In one smooth movement, he swept her off her feet, careful not to disturb her injury.
Miroku's eyebrows rose slightly, looking the most startled Kagome had ever seen him. "Ah. I see…well, Inu-Yasha, please allow me to lead the way."
~+~
With Kaede's arrival came comfort. She assured them that the wound, though painful, was largely superficial and not at all life threatening. Kagome, long since having drifted off to sleep thanks to her fatigue and Kaede's herbs, could not recount the story of the afternoon. Inu-Yasha did not appear to have any inclination to talk either, sitting in the window frame in Kagome's chambers. He had been basically unresponsive except for the occasional sarcastic retort since Kaede had ascertained that the girl would be fine. That left it to Miroku to explain the situation, and upon its telling, he left with Sango to further discuss the events that had transpired on the east end of the property.
Kaede looked hard at the young hanyou; his posture shouted indifference, but the fact that he had stayed in the room this long let the old woman think there must be more to the situation than the houshi had let on. "I have read much about you, Inu-Yasha."
His head jerked in her direction, revealing the curiosity that had been eating away at him since his unsealing. Kaede chose to view that as a sign to continue, and began, "He tried to control you. He inadvertently turned you into a hanyou, and then forced you to mortally wound the woman who had loved you. She rejected you in your hanyou form, and then she sealed you." She tilted her head, regarding Inu-Yasha, waiting for a change in his demeanor. "Tell me, how wrong are our records?"
Inu-Yasha returned his gaze to the scenery outside, shifting his body for comfort's sake. "Fairly accurate."
The old woman, sensing the boy's tension, waited patiently.
"Today…I was able to protect Kagome and the Shikon no Tama as I was supposed to with…for…Kikyo, years ago. I was trained to fight as a human, but I also did these instinctive…moves that I assume must be related to my hanyou blood." The boy's amber eyes flashed towards his katana for a moment before continuing, "And my sword changed. The Tessaiga. It become stronger, and had a pulse."
Kaede ascertained from these admissions what it was he was not asking. "I am certain Lady Sango and Miroku would be able to guide you in training your body and mind in the face of this…" she searched for a word before settling on, "…transformation. And I will peruse the libraries for information regarding the Tessaiga." Her intense gaze left the the boy's tense frame and settled on Kagome, lying in her bed with a peaceful look, lips slightly parted, her chest rising and falling gently. "She is new to all this also. Kagome…is a strong girl. Even if she does not know it yet."
Inu-Yasha nodded slowly, having been filled in on the events that had occurred after his sealing and Kagome's circumstances by Miroku.
The woman stood, and said, "Be nice to her."
Inu-Yasha snorted, then followed Kaede's lead and rose from the window.
~+~
Inu-Yasha settled into the chambers he had been given, opening the windows to rid the rooms of the stuffiness a human nose would not detect. He laid back in the bed, reflecting on the old miko's warning from earlier. He knew that if her records were half as good as he supposed, then the warning came from reports of Inu-Yasha's boorishness from when he first arrived at the castle as Kikyo's Intended. He thought back to the time it had taken for his anger to quell and Kikyo's trust in him to grow.
You got one part wrong, woman. Kikyo did not love me, and I had not loved her.
Inu-Yasha closed his eyes, not allowing himself to grieve for the potential that had been destroyed.
~+~
Glossary:
Shikon no Tama – Jewel of the Four Souls
Miko – Priestess
Hanyou – Half-demon
Taijiya – Demon Exterminator
Houshi – Wandering monk? (Sorry, I've never seen a conclusive definition on this one)
Kehai – A sort of sixth-sense energy – when Kagome says she feels a shard of the Shikon in the manga/anime, she's actually sensing it's kehai.
[A/N: It's a miracle! Another chapter! 20 reviews swoon Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed – when authors mention their addiction to reviews, they are not joking J I think maybe we should start a Anonymous group…"Hello, my name is Bikutoria and I am addicted to reviews."
All right, for anyone who thinks Inu-Yasha was being OOC by choosing to give Kagome back the Shikon no Tama, understand this: it's an AU. In this world, Inu-Yasha was raised human and that is what he's used to. So, for him to hear the call of power of the Shikon no Tama and reject it is on par with what he did in the manga and anime by picking up Tessaiga again and subduing his full-demon blood. Yeah, he could have the power but he'd basically be sacrificing his own soul. We wouldn't want our little inu-hanyou to do that! And also, Inu-Yasha KNEW Kagome's word would be her bond. He panicked, and took advantage of the situation by making himself her intended because he saw it as the only way to possibly get back his humanity. The pessimistic part of his mind recognized her raw power and thinks maybe she could break the enchantment without the love requirement. The optimistic part recognizes what a fiery little spirit our Kagome has, and what a kindred spirit she might be. Of course, Inu-Yasha has not admitted any of this to himself – yet.
6-28-03 - For anyone wondering why this has been updated but there's no new chapter – fear not. Well, fear a little. I fixed grammar mistakes and inconsistencies in all the chapters. Plus, I get to tell you here not to expect another update for about a week J I will not put out the next chapter until I've pinned down exactly how I want this to end – if you've read "The Frog King" you'll understand my frustration in finding an equivalent ending. Thank you for your patience!
Shameless Plug of the Day: sniffle Maiden of the Moon is beginning to wrap up her fanfic entitled "If The Slipper Fits A Cinderella Story." So catch up and endure the suspense with the rest of us!
