Wow! Chappie four already!!!!!!! I'm gonna do something a little different than in most chapters…

I'm answering reviews of the last chapter!!!!!!!!!!

          Yeah, I know it's nothing special, but I think it would be nice to do so for my reviewers that have stuck to this story from chapter one. Without their encouraging words, I'd be lucky to be writing a fourth installment of "Love and War". But I'm just answering reviews from last chapter… Yup ^_^. Well, here are those review responses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          loozer-09: Thanks for the compliment on Shippou's appearance! I'm kind of debating on whether or not to include him in more chapters… Hmmmmm… And you wondered what's gonna happen at the ball…………….. You'll just have to wait and see. *tee hee* Don't worry, the ball is this chapter so you'll find out. I think it'll be sort of fluffy but not too much. I've gotta save it for later, right? ^_^

          Sweet Sad Jess: You wanted more, so here you go! I hope you enjoy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^_^

          Geminidragon: To answer to your question about Inuyasha liking Kikyo first… That will definitely NOT happen. I HATE Kikyo with a red, hot, flaming passion so her and Inu-chan will not be getting together. INUYASHA AND KAGOME FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, that's a bit much but I hate Kikyo. What can I say, eh? ^_^

          Shadow Wraith: I agree: Inuyasha can be dense sometimes. Even in the show. Thanks for the compliment on the chapter. You said it was great. I feel loved!!!!!!!!!!! *tee hee* Anyway, Kikyo and Kagome sharing a room will be … eh… different, but I'll try not to include too much Kikyo in the story because she's a bitch and I hate her. Sorry if you like her even remotely. ^_^

          AnimeAngel0123: I'm glad you thought the chapter was funny! I enjoyed writing the scene when Kagome and Inuyasha met. I had been waiting to do it since the beginning of the fic. Oh! And that's okay about chapter 2. ^_^

          Big Fan: I'm glad you thought that the fic is interesting. I try not to get too boring with the stuff. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But here I am, with chapter 4. I hope you like it!

          MysticDreamer: I'm glad you liked the story. Really, really liked the story! ^_^ I feel so loved w/ everyone's responses. Well, here's chapter 4, I hope you enjoy it! ^_^

Well, that's all the reviews. Thank you all for taking time to read the story. Now, onward with the fic!!!!! I hope you all like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the anime "Inuyasha".

"What we call the beginning is often the end.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

The end is where we start from."
-T. S. Eliot, "Four Quartets"

I'm gonna do my kind of dancin' with a great partner,

Who's not only a terrific dancer -- somebody who's taught me

That there are people willing to stand up for other people

No matter what it costs them -- somebody who's taught me

About the kind of person I wanna be.

-Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle; "Dirty Dancing" (borrowed from )

If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.

-Emma Goldman (borrowed from )

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        "So," Kikyo snorted, "you and I are to share a barrack."

            Timidly, Kagome nodded in response and absentmindedly smoothed the cheep blanket down on her bed. She did not want to be in the same room as Kikyo. Even the night before, Kikyo had sneered and insulted her in more ways than one. The most common attack at her dignity is the fact she came from the country. And Kagome, as outspoken as she is around people she knows, could not bring herself to insult Kikyo back.

            "Are you in there?" Kikyo laughed. "You have not said much since you got here. I am curious if you country upbringing prohibits you from understanding what I am saying. Does it?"

            "No, I understand what you're saying," Kagome murmured.

            "That's surprising."
            Just as Kagome was going to respond timidly, a solid knock sounded across the room from the door. Whoever it was knocked again and Kikyo shot Kagome a look that basically said 'You get it'. Kagome nodded meekly and dashed across the room, throwing the door open. On the other side was a man dressed in the Mythoran Guard uniform, except that he had a black cloak draped down his back.

            Upon seeing Kagome open the door, his expression transformed from annoyed to surprised. "Is this the residence of Lady Kikyo and Miss Kagome?"

            "Yes," Kikyo pushed Kagome back, sending her a hard glare, "this is my residence."

            "King Dion requests you ladies to be fitted for the appropriate uniforms for tonight."

            "Alright," Kikyo nodded, "where am I to go to get fitted?"

            "The Palace," the guard straightened. "From there, someone will direct you."

            With that, Kikyo closed the door –not even saying 'Good-bye' or 'Thank you'- and whirled around to face Kagome. "It seems we are needed."

            "That it does," Kagome agreed.

            Kikyo sneered, opened the door, and walked out without so much of a backward glance at Kagome to see if she followed. For a few moments, Kagome glared at the red and white garbed woman as she ambled across the barrack lots. Kagome wished that she go back to yesterday and somehow warn herself about winning and what the end result would be like. Of course she knew time travel is not possible so, with an agitated sigh, Kagome trudged after Kikyo, and closed the door.

            The barrack lots –the location that her dwelling is- looked like a mud field after the previous night's rain. The dirt ground had been pelted with thousands of raindrops which turned it into a disgusting, muddy soup that flies and mosquitoes swarmed around. Kagome jumped and tip-toed around mud puddles and potholes, and anyone who happened to look out their window would think her to be playing hop scotch.

 The barracks themselves appeared relatively untouched from the storm –it had only rained with hardly any wind. Basically, the barracks were simple log cabins built of cheep wood that could house up to twenty soldiers at a time. They were constructed to only stand at ten feet, but stretch for at least twenty feet. And despite the fact she had to live with Kikyo, Kagome was quite glad that the Division Leader's barracks outwardly appeared to have had more effort put into their construction as well as being much smaller than the regular barracks.

After five minutes of scuttling through the barrack lots, Kagome finally made it to the base of a steep and grassy hill. On the top of the hill the Palace is situated. Only briefly had Kagome seen the palace and was quite impressed by it. By what General Loki had told her about it the day before, the Palace has two walls –a outer and inner wall- to protect against enemy siege. The outer wall, Kagome guessed, had to be at least ten feet thick and fifty feet high; it was meant to protect the castle from most enemies. The inner wall is much thinner and not as tall, but meant to be decorative because of the gardens kept just inside it.

Minutes of stumbling on thick patches of grass and hidden tree roots resulted in Kagome making it to the top of the hill. Kagome clutched at her abdomen, breathing heavily, for she had ran up the hill. She found herself at the back entrance to the Palace which is a metal bar gate manned by many soldiers that lead into the space between the two palace walls. Kikyo stood outside of the outer gate, conversing mildly with a soldier; for what reason, Kagome could only guess. Sucking in a deep breath, Kagome crossed the green lawn to the gate, and ducked inside; hoping that Kikyo and the soldiers would pay her no mind.

Her wish, she sighed, had been granted when Kikyo did not so much as snort disdainfully when she passed. Kagome let out the breath she had taken in moments before with a large gasp for more air soon following. Now, she found herself between the two walls which are basically servant houses that greatly resembled the haphazard barracks. Looking up, Kagome could see the top few stories of the palace over the inner wall and was greatly impressed with the architecture.

Just then, a man dressed in bright turquoise robes and simple frock trimmed in gold, approached her with a large smile. "You must be Miss Kagome."

Kagome, in response nodded, thoroughly engrossed in the man's hair: it is blonde. She had never seen blonde hair before.

"Well my name is Smithy," he smiled once again, but more broadly than before and extended his hand. Kagome returned the gesture, and they shook hands. "Is the Lady Kikyo with you or do you know where she is?"

"Yes," Kagome nodded and resisted all urges to run from the strange man –not because she did not trust him, but because of how familiar he seemed to act with her, "she is over at the outer wall gate talking to some soldier."

"Ah…" Smithy knuckled his forehead. "It's just as well. Getting your uniform fitted should be easier than doing hers. You know," he gesticulated for Kagome to come closer and he lowered his voice, "Lady Kikyo runs around the barracks and anything under the King like she's the on in charge. Heh! It will take forever to get her measurements simply because she'll fuss about everything. You won't fuss, will you? It would make my job just that much easier if you don't."

"I won't."

"Phew!" Smithy exclaimed in relief. "That's good. I suppose we should get started, eh? It's only five or so hours until the ball," he grinned once again and offered his arm to Kagome. "Shall we?"

Kagome could not help but beam back and looped her arm in his.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"She sounds like your type," Miroku mumbled in response to Inuyasha's rants.

Ever since yesterday afternoon, Inuyasha had fumed about some archer who was brave enough to insult his intelligence. At first Miroku laughed, now, many hours later, he did not want to hear any more of it. Though he did wonder if this Kagome was the same person his wonderful Sango had introduced to him about a week ago…

"Earth to Miroku! Might your brain cells be on vacation right now?" Inuyasha raged after trying to get his friend's attention for the past few moments.

Miroku coughed in an attempt to collect his "houshi" composure. "I was merely thinking on what you said about this Kagome-archer-woman. I might have met her."

"Really?!" Inuyasha jumped up from the couch he had been lounging on. "Uh… I mean… Really?"

"Yes," Miroku laughed at Inuyasha's effort on covering up his enthusiasm. He knew Inuyasha is interested in Kagome. "But, at the most, I said a sentence to her. I thought she was-"

"What!?" Inuyasha asked, all the while inches from the houshi's face.

"She seemed nice, but way too nice for you since you go for the easy, wild ones."

"Easy and wild… Since when have we been talking about your preferences for women?"

"Ahem," Miroku cleared his throat, shooting Inuyasha a hard glare.

"I'm not apologizing," Inuyasha crossed his arms and looked toward the door. "It's true."

"Right," Miroku murmured and looked out the window on the far end of the room. The sky outside was completely dark and stars and moons reigned the night.

"It's time to go, do you think?"

"Yes," Miroku exhaled in relief. He was certain the next words out of the hanyou's mouth would be angry.

"Do I look okay? I know it's weird asking, but do I?" Inuyasha asked while lifting his arms partially and letting them flop down to hit his sides.

Inuyasha wore a pair dark blue pants and matching poet's shirt with a jacket that had the Yogo royal family seal sewed on it. As Miroku let his eyes run a cursory course over Inuyasha's outfit, he cocked his head to the side in consideration.

"Yeah, sure. Me?" Miroku inquired, lightly pulling on his pants. The only difference between his outfit and Inuyasha's is the shirt he wore is white, not dark blue.

"You look horrible," Inuyasha smirked and darted out the door before Miroku could say or do anything.

Inuyasha lightly jogged down the stone block corridors that had un-paned windows and allowed no one to feel any warmth from the building itself. He greatly missed home because of the building. For some reason this palace reminded him of cold dungeons and his home in Yogo seemed greatly inviting. Soon Inuyasha came to a wooden door that even if he didn't have his youkai hearing, he could tell that numerous people were on the other side of it. Sheepishly and as inconspicuously as he could manage, Inuyasha opened the door –just enough, though, so he could see on the other side- and inhaled sharply. The sight that greeted him were many people wearing endless amounts of colors and styles twirling on the dance floor to a lively waltz played by a tiny orchestra on the opposite side of the room. Inuyasha opened the door even wider and slipped through, hoping nobody noticed. When the people closest to him did not so much as shoot him a questioning glance, he knew his secretive measures were not in vain.

He inhaled once again and meandered through the swarm of people circling the dance floor, all the while taking in his surroundings. The room itself looked very old. It appeared to almost be carved out of a pure marble cave with all the columns on the outward edge of the dance floor. The dance floor itself he could not see, simply because he was too far back and there were too many people in front of him. Inuyasha ignored that and continued to examine the room. On the far end of the room, Inuyasha could see the entire wall up was not a wall at all but thirty –if not more- panes of glass that had thick gold metal worked in between the all the windows.

"Very nice," Inuyasha whispered to no one in particular.

"There are many things in this room that could be called nice," said a woman approaching him.

At first Inuyasha thought it was Kagome, but that guess was soon dashed when he carefully looked at the face. "Lady Kikyo… It is good to see you," he lied. In all honesty, he hardly knew the woman.

"And you as well," Kikyo smiled with a small curtsey. Inuyasha could not help but notice how warm her smile seemed, but how cold her eyes shone and voice rang. "My older brother Dion did quite well with this party, wouldn't you say?"

"I have hardly been here five minutes, so I could not tell you my honest opinion on it. Also I was not aware King Dion is your brother," Inuyasha blinked. Kikyo was starting to get on his nerves with her chilly detachment from emotion. She seemed like a robot in human skin, not able to express emotion. But he could not get over how she looked like a cranky Kagome…

"Yes. Not too many people know that because of my miko upbringing."

"Uh huh," Inuyasha responded. Not too far from his current position Inuyasha could see a woman. He recognized her from the previous day when Miroku dragged him to the barrack lots to introduce her. If his memory served him correctly, her name is Sango. At least he would have someone other than the monotone Kikyo to talk to.

"Hey Kikyo, would you excuse me?" he asked and hurried away with out her consent, all the while mentally asking himself why he requested her release of him.

"Sango," Inuyasha called when he came up behind her.

Immediately she spun around and smiled politely at him. He thought her uniform to be strange, but he never understood women and fashion anyway. She wore the uniform of a Division Leader which included a plain black skirt that fell down to the ankles and meet black army boots. Her top consisted of a rather masculine looking long-sleeved button up shirt in forest green with a brown vest over it, complete with the Hathar coat of arms sewed on and a pin that signified her division: the Third Soldier Division. All in all, the uniform was truly horrendous.

"I had to get away from…" Inuyasha trailed off and pointed behind him to Kikyo.

"I completely understand. From what Kagome told me yesterday she's horrible," Sango nodded. "And speaking of Kagome, she is looking for you. I'm assuming it's about your meeting yesterday. Anyway, she is outside in the gardens thinking that perhaps you were there."

"Thank you, I'll try and find her."

*********************************************************************************

"Where is he?" Kagome grunted as she turned the corner of one of the garden hedges. She cursed herself for searching out Inuyasha in the Maze Garden. Not once had she thought "The garden is a maze" when making her decision to start her hunt here.

"I'm never going to get out of here," she whined, heavily plunked down onto the pavement beneath her, and leaned against one of the twelve foot tall bushes.

She looked up at the sky and could have sworn she saw a shooting star amongst the field of stationary stars. Just then, another star streaked across the sky, making Kagome's heart flutter for unknown reasons. Then she remembered: as a child, she and Horaku would sit on the edge of town at night and watch the stars. Each of them hoped to catch a glimpse of a shooting star to make a wish on.

Kagome whimpered and shifted her weight. Thinking of Horaku made her feel homesick, so she tried very hard not to do so. When she, Sango, and Horaku went to Neerot to be evaluated as worthy of the Hathar army, he had not passed and so returned home, or so she thought. Horaku had stupidly stowed away on the ship they took to Mythora and was caught. He received a brutal beating for being a stow-away and was almost thrown off the ship if General Loki had not intervened. After that dreadful incident, the General took a liking to Horaku and put him in his Division. She had not seen Horaku yet.

"I wish someone would find me," Kagome whispered and rubbed her arms, cursing when the rough fabric of the forest green shirt chafed her arms. Just then, Kagome felt a heavy, welcoming wave of sleep rush over her body, "Boy am I tired."

She closed her eyes and let the music from the ball lull her to sleep.

"Kagome wake up!" she felt a pair of strong arms grip her shoulders.

Hesitantly, she opened her eyes to be greeted by a pair of brilliant gold eyes that held concern and something else she could not read. She inhaled sharply and sat up when he removed his hands from her. Instantly she recognized him as Inuyasha; Prince Inuyasha, to be correct.

"Are you all right?" Inuyasha asked in a low voice.

Kagome shook her head and furiously rubbed sleep from her eyes. "I can't believe I feel asleep out here!"

"If you're really tired, you can fall asleep anywhere. At least that's the case with me," he smiled and offered his hand to pull her up.

She accepted and he yanked her up, trying not to grin back when she gave him an appreciative grin. Inuyasha sniffed at the air when a breeze flew by, but got a nose full of Kagome's scent. He noticed she smelled of lavender and vanilla, a pleasant combination.

"I came out here to look for you," Kagome began after a few moments of awkward silence between them. Inuyasha nodded in response. "I wanted to apologize for my rudeness yesterday. I should not have talked to you in such a manner, your highness."

"You know, my friend Miroku, he thought it was quite hilarious."

"I'm sorry," Kagome bowed her head.

"Don't be," Inuyasha said and lifted her chin up with his right hand.

Her eyes sparkled in the light the stars and seven of the eighteen moons gave off, making her seem like the light came from the inside… Like an angel…

"Yes," Kagome breathed nervously.

At that moment, Inuyasha wanted to kiss her. He felt stupid for thinking it, but her red lips looked so tempting and soft in the moonlight. They were open partially, beaconing him closer and to envelope them in his kiss. I hardly know her!, his mind screamed in protest and he removed his hand from her jaw.

"About yesterday," he waved nonchalantly, "it doesn't really matter, I guess. Yeah, forget about it."

"Okay. Um… If you don't mind me asking," Kagome shyly looked up at him, all the while wringing her hands. "Why do you have inu ears?"

"These?" he inquired, pointing to the white dog ears perched atop his head. "I thought it was obvious, but I guess you prove me wrong. I'm an inu youkai… Well not actually a youkai. I'm an inu hanyou."

"Oh! I had no idea," Kagome exclaimed. "I've never really seen a demon before –let alone a half-demon- so I didn't know…" she lowered her gaze and stepped closer to him. When she glanced up again, her eyes were larger and sparkly. "Can I touch 'em?!"

"Heck no!" Inuyasha yelled and jumped away from Kagome.

"Why not?" Kagome pouted. "They're so kawaii!"

"The answer is no," Inuyasha snorted and crossed his arms.

"Please?" Kagome moaned.

"It's still no."

"Please, please, please, please!"

"Will you quit your screeching?!" Inuyasha howled. "My hearing is much more acute than that of a human's so when you yell, it sounds like you're doing so in my ear."

"Sorry," Kagome squeaked. "Still, though, can I?"

"Would it get you to shut up?" Inuyasha sighed.

"Yes."

"Fine," Inuyasha grumbled and bent over slightly so she would have better access to his ears.

Kagome reached out and touched one his ears. They had extremely soft white hair coating the back and even softer on the inside. She giggled when a low rumbling emerged from Inuyasha's chest. He's purring. How adorable!

"They are so kawaii!" Kagome squealed.

"What!" Inuyasha raged.

A man standing outside of the ballroom could hear Inuyasha's roar.

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"Is it done?" the lord asked.

"Yes, my lord. King Inuki is dead and soon both sons will return to Yogo. Will they need to be," he paused to find the right word, "terminated?"

"No. Inuki planned on having the hanyou brat take over. He'll send Yogo to hell without our help. Do not worry," the lord mumbled.

"Thank you, my lord," he bowed and never felt the sword blade pass through his neck.

Well there you have it! I hope you enjoyed it. I had fun writing the ending. Sorry that there isn't more Inuyasha/Kagome stuff going on, but I wanted to have small meetings between them at first then have them around each other later. So next chapter, there'll be more Inuyasha/Kagome stuff. Possibly a little Miroku/Sango stuff as well.

See you next time and thanks for reading this chapter. Don't forget to review. I'd love you all if you did ^_^

Sayonara!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Buh-bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^_^