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The young Lord of the Western Land stood at the edge of the dense forest that was part of his castle. Suddenly excited, the youkai lord transformed into his true, gigantic form as he pounced toward his home castle, with his cargo bouncing slightly on his back. A low growl emitted from his throat as he sensed unwanted visitors from afar...


True Identity
By sunflowerobi
Chapter Four: Discovery


Kagome groaned as she rolled over in her bed. Her head and body are literally aching, which is not a good sign. With her eyes closed, she calmly sensed her surroundings with her nose and ears. There's a giggle from somewhere in this enclosed space. Opening her amber eyes warily, Kagome found herself facing two huge brown orbs. Not expecting this, Kagome could do the only thing she could think of at the precise moment: screaming at the top of her lungs.

Forcing open her dry mouth, Kagome let out a bloody scream. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

Suddenly, even louder than her bloody scream, a wailing started. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

The entrance door to the room, which Kagome hadn't notice before, was forced open with a loud bang, and with all his glory, the Lord of Western Land, in other words, Sesshoumaru, glided in. His own amber eyes was fixed on her own, glaring with an untold talent. Gulping slightly, Kagome jammed her mouth together to stop screaming, and eased back further toward the wall behind her. At the same time Kagome stopped screaming, the wailing also came to a halt. A little girl, who was the owner of the terrifying loud wail, sniffled a little and rubbed her brown eyes, which was what had made Kagome scream, with her chibi fists.

Sesshoumaru, clearly unhappy with all the loud noises produced by the females, chose Kagome as his victim. "You. Will. Not. Ter-ri-fy. Rin." His words were sharp, almost to the point of slicing the air between them.

With her back pressed against the wall behind her, Kagome knew clearly that she has no escape. So, with all the courage she can muster within her, she pulled herself up on slightly shaking legs and pointed a rude finger at Sesshoumaru. "And you will not order me what to do!!"

Amused, Sesshoumaru raised his elegant eyebrows, accepting the challenge this puny human had threw at him. He would like very much to see what she can do before submitting loyalty, or at the very least, obedience, to him. Chuckling, if not a bit devilish, Sesshoumaru turned and walked away from the room with a quiet Rin at his heels, but not before: "If you want a change of clothing, you'll find some in the wardrobe." Of course, obedience to him include wearing proper clothing in his castle.

Grimacing, Kagome looked down to find herself in a sweat-soaked uniform. Even though she definitely didn't want to listen to Sesshoumaru at all, a change of clothing right at then would be, or feel, very good.

But then, her stubborn part argued, soon he'll want you to do everything his way.

For now. Just for now, she calmed her stubborn part and went to the wardrobe. To her surprise, there's many yukata and kimono of different varieties. Humming with glee, Kagome picked out a simple light blue cotton yukata patterned with light green bamboo leaves. After finishing dressing in the yukata, Kagome peeked out to the hall outside. When she found no servants waddling around in the serene atmosphere, she slipped out the door and down the hall.

***

Sesshoumaru looked at the reports written by lords that served below him.

Garbage. Definitely garbage.

Angrily, if not with rage, he slammed the last report onto the pile that he had nicknamed junk. He had more interesting matter to think and do than looking at these boring garbage and wasting his precious time. Interesting matter like... how to make his idiotic younger brother suffer. But first, he has to make the girl obey him.

***

Wandering past what she assumed the main hall, Kagome turned down even more corridors and halls. Although the sun had set about ten minutes ago, she still can, strangely, see every tiny detail of each place she passed. In a normal condition from before, she would be half-blind and stumbling each and every step.

Thinking as she walked, Kagome found herself watching a slightly opened door to her right in interest. Warily, she stepped toward the door with cautions, straining to hear every sound of movement near her. Within a foot from the door, Kagome zipped through the tiny gap like a small lightning. Not knowing that she could do that, she gazed at her own body with renew interest. But, to her horror, in the place of her normal neatly filed fingernails, now she has claws like that of Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. She let out a strange choking sound before she could stop herself.

Kagome started to calm down, and after half a minute, she was placid enough to walk forward. With a beam of light that came from the moon outside through a window, she was able to see a portrait of a young youkai girl at the age of about 6 or 7, grinning at her with a smile so huge that it took up at least half of her face. Her eyes were amber, like that of Sesshoumaru's and Inuyasha's, and on her tiny forehead was a blue crescent moon similar to Sesshoumaru's. Kagome couldn't help but wonder where she had seen such a familiar face before.

Mesmerized, Kagome's feet started to walk forward toward the portrait on its own will, without Kagome even noticing the strange event; her amber eyes and thoughts were intent on the portrait, drinking in every detail. When she was merely a foot away from it, bright flames jumped forth from both sides, engulfing her. Panicked, she started to scream, only to realize that the flames didn't hurt her at all, such as the time when Yura of the Hair tried to kill her when she was wearing Inuyasha's fire-rat coat. Only, this time, she wasn't wearing it. Sweat formed on her face, glistening it, as she hugged her arms, trying to comfort herself. The shard detector had no idea what to do now. Maybe, just maybe, that she's trapped? Trapped inside this brightness until she stepped outside and fire - real fire - will kill her?

Breaking the tension in the air, a cool and calm voice cut through her panicked thoughts. "What are you doing here? And just who, or what, are you?"

***Earlier***

Sesshoumaru sat at the back of the room, hidden by various objects to block other's view of him. His back leaned against the wall, supporting his weight. He sat there, looking at young Kyoko's portrait, painted before she disappeared without much trace. Musing, the Lord of the Western Land stared at his betrothed's portrait, sorting his jumbled thoughts. Every time when he's sad, lonely, or worried, however few times there were, he'd come to this room, looking at his supposed mate. But other time, he just come here to recall his childhood memories, how great it was back then.

A shadow darted in from outside the door, and immediately, Sesshoumaru was on guard, tensed although not too much in case it noticed him. This tall figure, simply because it's tall, couldn't be Rin or Jaken. It, the shadowed figure, glanced at its own hands and let out a strange choking sound before noticing the huge portrait, its attention suddenly fixed on it. As if mesmerized, the figure walked forward toward the moonlight-framed portrait.

A thief? Sesshoumaru immediately dismissed the thought. The room was spelled, working so that only the Royal family - in other words, his or any other youkai lord's family - can see it. And if a faithful servant was around long enough, he or she would know where to look to find the room, even if they couldn't see it. Adding to that, neither Rin nor Jaken could see it, although Jaken knew where to look for the room.

Sniffing the air slightly, the Lord of the Western Land found a somewhat familiar and strange fragrance with a mixture of both youkai and ningen. His golden eyes widened momentarily as he recognized the scent partially similar to Kyoko's.

Sesshoumaru watched intently at the temporarily forgotten shadowed figure. The figure was only a mere foot away from the huge picture of Kyoko, and if he or she was not supposed to be in this room... Bright flames suddenly leaped forth to lick at the figure. Briefly Sesshoumaru thought he'd have the satisfaction of hearing the terrified scream of the intruder, when he noticed that these flames that was activated... The fire was burning a steady purple, indicating that-

Intrigued and couldn't hold back the urge any more, Sesshoumaru could only open his mouth and ask perhaps the most important questions in his life. "What are you doing here? And just who, or what, are you?"

Almost guiltily, the figure turned around to face her captor. To his surprise, Sesshoumaru found himself staring at his captive, only the difference from when he saw her last, she has snowy white hair in addition to her pointed ears and sharp claws. This woman-child resembled to the one behind her.

Horrified, a faint whisper escaped from the Western Land Lord's mouth. "Kyo...ko..."

***

The next day, a determined Sesshoumaru took a utterly confused Kagome into his big library full of books written in the Inu language. Not caring what the title said, Sesshoumaru randomly picked out a book bind in blue cloth. He handed it to Kagome with the instruction, "Read what it says."

Curious, Kagome opened the book to the title page, then quickly thrust it back into the book shelf, blushing madly. Raising his eyebrows, Sesshoumaru leaned in to read the book's title, and instantaneously, his face went maroon. Coughing slightly, Sesshoumaru apologized in a small voice, and provided Kagome another book that is appropriate.

"Read this one," he instructed.

This time, it's Kagome's turn to raise her eyebrow. "This?" At Sesshoumaru's firm nod, she looked at the book's title, "'The Fairytale of a Princess'."

Joy stamped the lord's heart hard, but Sesshoumaru allowed none of any expression on his face. So instead, he had his captive tried more books and scrolls. When the sun finally set in the west, Sesshoumaru straightened from his seat and gave Kagome a rare smile.

"Let's go to dinner. I'm starving," he said.

***A Week Later...***

Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippou, and Kirara were still on their way to rescue Kagome, and continuously cutting at annoying vines that stood in their way. After chasing by several groups of low-level youkai, they had, hopelessly, lost their way in the forest.

"I'm tired and I'm starving!" Shippou declared as Inuyasha swiped at numerous vines.

Sighing, Miroku patiently whispered to Shippou, "Just a little more, okay?"

But after half an hour, the tired and hungry Shippou decided he wouldn't take any more of this torture. "I'M TIRED AND I'M STARVING!! I WILL NOT WAIT ANY MORE-"

Knocked off Miroku's shoulder by Inuyasha, Shippou sailed a good few feet before he finally landed on an extra-thorny vine. Instantly, he started to bawl, crying for Kagome and his deceased parents. The group's mood already awful, Inuyasha finally snapped.

"If you are going to cry any more longer, brat, I'm going to snap your head off your neck for good!"

The threat didn't really work as Shippou's bawling only grew louder. Sango hugged him close as she also shed a few tears. "Shh... I understand, Shippou-chan... It's okay... We'll find Kagome-chan soon..." I hope, she added as a thought, although she didn't say it out loud.

Everyone's mood was rotten without the cheerful Kagome with them; even the normally quiet Kirara was edgy.

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Somewhere afar, looking at this scene through a mirror held by a completely white girl, a dark figure chuckled evilly. "Kukuku... How...delightful."

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TRANSLATIONS:
++There may be mistakes. If you, the readers, by chance, found them, please e-mail me or tell me in your review.++

+futon: it's just something the Japanese sleep on. sort of like a mattress for them. Correct me if I'm wrong, tho. ^_^;;
+chibi: small. little. tiny.
+yukata / kimono: they're both Japanese clothes (-_-;;) but yukata are lighter and more...ordinary? Kimono tends to be more elegant and heavier, and sometimes they trail on the ground. I think.
+ningen: human.
+Inu: dog. (Thus Inuyasha means Dog Demon. =P) Although, I think the kanji is supposed to mean canine of the sort. (Hey, I'm also Chinese, you know. *puff*)