"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace
unless he has his freedom."
~Malcolm X~ Malcolm X Speaks
All's Fair in Love and War
Chapter 24: Treachery
~Hikari Fortress (Inuyasha's POV)~
I stand on the north tower staring unseeing to the horizon. This decision of Kagome's will change the future. We can either become a united country or we can fall under Aoi Kaze's attack and become part of them. I wonder if she knows all that depends on her; it is not just her life that is in consideration.
After a few minutes I turn and walk down the long stone steps to the main part of the fortress. Immediately a guard approaches me and bows.
"Your Majesty. The prisoner says she is ready to speak to you." He says.
"Bring her to the conference chamber." I order.
I dismiss him with a slight nod of my head and decide that the dread I fell is for the future of Shi Wase. I stride impatiently to the conference chamber and sit down in a soft chair. I look around the room, it is probably the plainest room in the parts of the castle used by the royalty. It is paneled in dark wood and has tapestries showing victories of Hikari Kings on the wall. I look to the door when I hear it open. Kagome walks in with a determined look on her face followed by three guards.
She stands in the center of the room ads I motion for the guards to stand outside.
"Would you like to sit down?" I ask.
She sits in another chair that faces me and stares at her hands. Her hair slides forward so that it shadows her face. We sit there for a few minutes with me staring at Kagome and her looking down.
I see her take a deep breath and then she raises her head to look me in the eyes. My heart skips a beat when I see the sadness and defeat.
"I have decided that I will marry you," She says with bitterness. "On the condition that we wait twenty-eight days. During that time I will unofficially have half the throne. It will be a trial. If it fails we will not marry and I will decide what must be done in that event."
I think about this and it seems to make sense.
"Fine. Your demands will be met. I will have a servent take you to your chambers. You can bathe and change into fresh clothing but we must leave her within the hour."
She looks puzzled by this and I explain.
"Miroku will not believe that you are ordering him to stop the attack by your own will unless you are there to give the orders in person. It will prove that I am not torturing you to make you change your mind."
She raises her eyebrow sardonically as though what I just said was a lie.
"We will bring most of my-our cavalry so that we outnumber Aoi Kaze's army."
She gets up and leaves the room without looking back. I follow her out of the room and go to give orders for the cavalry to move out.
~Road to Hikari (Miroku's POV)~
We all stand waiting for the soldiers from Aoi Kaze to catch up so we can start the march to Hikari. I scan the horizon, holding my hand up to block the bright sun. Nothing. What is taking them so long? I calculated an army of that size to be able to move much faster.
I turn when I heard shouts from the last ranks. I shoulder my way through the crowd and come out at the front. There is a large group of mounted soldiers riding towards us. It cannot be Aoi Kaze because they are coming from the opposite direction.
As they get closer I can see in greater detail. There are two riders in the very front and I recognize the one on the left to be Kagome. Beside her is Inuyasha. Is Inuyasha using Kagome as a hostage?
Kagome dismounts and walks until she is in front of me. She leans forward and whispers in my ear of what has happened and what she plans to do. I know I will follow orders though I feel that she is betraying her father's wishes by joining with the King.
Now we are faced with the problem of getting our shoulders out of the ranks of Aoi Kaze soldiers without suspicion. Luckily the soldiers of Aoi Kaze are now grouped together in small patches with our soldiers around them. Also there had not been much contact between the soldier of the different countries.
I gather ten of our soldiers from the fist ranks and tell them the plan. They quickly disappear into the ranks and I watch as the message gets passed back from soldier to soldier. The ranks still and I know that all our soldiers know about the plan.
"More reinforcements have arrived from Regenbogen!" I call to the army and they cheer happily. "We will camp here for now!"
They army disbands and they all start to set up camp. As usual Aoi Kaze's soldiers and ours set up camp in different places in the field. We all try to act normal but everyone feels as though something will happen soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ARGH! I had this all typed up before and then I deleted it by accident! I am so pissed off right now! It's not as good as it was before so I'm really sorry!
thanks: hyperchica11, Paragorgon, Eikos butterfly, SwtAngl53, angledawn, Soudesuka-Shurikens. ShadowSpinner, Sprout, ShellBabe, SailorSun1, Jazzy, Brood Mayran, bonessasan, guesshoo, sanskirte, Arwen of Imladris, cupcake for the reviews!
~Malcolm X~ Malcolm X Speaks
All's Fair in Love and War
Chapter 24: Treachery
~Hikari Fortress (Inuyasha's POV)~
I stand on the north tower staring unseeing to the horizon. This decision of Kagome's will change the future. We can either become a united country or we can fall under Aoi Kaze's attack and become part of them. I wonder if she knows all that depends on her; it is not just her life that is in consideration.
After a few minutes I turn and walk down the long stone steps to the main part of the fortress. Immediately a guard approaches me and bows.
"Your Majesty. The prisoner says she is ready to speak to you." He says.
"Bring her to the conference chamber." I order.
I dismiss him with a slight nod of my head and decide that the dread I fell is for the future of Shi Wase. I stride impatiently to the conference chamber and sit down in a soft chair. I look around the room, it is probably the plainest room in the parts of the castle used by the royalty. It is paneled in dark wood and has tapestries showing victories of Hikari Kings on the wall. I look to the door when I hear it open. Kagome walks in with a determined look on her face followed by three guards.
She stands in the center of the room ads I motion for the guards to stand outside.
"Would you like to sit down?" I ask.
She sits in another chair that faces me and stares at her hands. Her hair slides forward so that it shadows her face. We sit there for a few minutes with me staring at Kagome and her looking down.
I see her take a deep breath and then she raises her head to look me in the eyes. My heart skips a beat when I see the sadness and defeat.
"I have decided that I will marry you," She says with bitterness. "On the condition that we wait twenty-eight days. During that time I will unofficially have half the throne. It will be a trial. If it fails we will not marry and I will decide what must be done in that event."
I think about this and it seems to make sense.
"Fine. Your demands will be met. I will have a servent take you to your chambers. You can bathe and change into fresh clothing but we must leave her within the hour."
She looks puzzled by this and I explain.
"Miroku will not believe that you are ordering him to stop the attack by your own will unless you are there to give the orders in person. It will prove that I am not torturing you to make you change your mind."
She raises her eyebrow sardonically as though what I just said was a lie.
"We will bring most of my-our cavalry so that we outnumber Aoi Kaze's army."
She gets up and leaves the room without looking back. I follow her out of the room and go to give orders for the cavalry to move out.
~Road to Hikari (Miroku's POV)~
We all stand waiting for the soldiers from Aoi Kaze to catch up so we can start the march to Hikari. I scan the horizon, holding my hand up to block the bright sun. Nothing. What is taking them so long? I calculated an army of that size to be able to move much faster.
I turn when I heard shouts from the last ranks. I shoulder my way through the crowd and come out at the front. There is a large group of mounted soldiers riding towards us. It cannot be Aoi Kaze because they are coming from the opposite direction.
As they get closer I can see in greater detail. There are two riders in the very front and I recognize the one on the left to be Kagome. Beside her is Inuyasha. Is Inuyasha using Kagome as a hostage?
Kagome dismounts and walks until she is in front of me. She leans forward and whispers in my ear of what has happened and what she plans to do. I know I will follow orders though I feel that she is betraying her father's wishes by joining with the King.
Now we are faced with the problem of getting our shoulders out of the ranks of Aoi Kaze soldiers without suspicion. Luckily the soldiers of Aoi Kaze are now grouped together in small patches with our soldiers around them. Also there had not been much contact between the soldier of the different countries.
I gather ten of our soldiers from the fist ranks and tell them the plan. They quickly disappear into the ranks and I watch as the message gets passed back from soldier to soldier. The ranks still and I know that all our soldiers know about the plan.
"More reinforcements have arrived from Regenbogen!" I call to the army and they cheer happily. "We will camp here for now!"
They army disbands and they all start to set up camp. As usual Aoi Kaze's soldiers and ours set up camp in different places in the field. We all try to act normal but everyone feels as though something will happen soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ARGH! I had this all typed up before and then I deleted it by accident! I am so pissed off right now! It's not as good as it was before so I'm really sorry!
thanks: hyperchica11, Paragorgon, Eikos butterfly, SwtAngl53, angledawn, Soudesuka-Shurikens. ShadowSpinner, Sprout, ShellBabe, SailorSun1, Jazzy, Brood Mayran, bonessasan, guesshoo, sanskirte, Arwen of Imladris, cupcake for the reviews!