DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters of the Inuyasha series nor do I own the original storyline.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Sorry for letting you wait, but I've been busy and had some trouble with my
muses. They don't seem to want to help me if I'm not sitting in the train, which
I haven't for the past week. But here it finally is! Enjoy reading!!
Italic: thoughts or emphasized words
-- --: locations
"...": spoken words
~*~*~*~*~: time gap or change of perspective
*...* : noises
-by Kittymui-
Engaged
Previously:
After several attempts, Kagome finally managed to open the window and she climbed
out of the bathroom. In her mind she prayed for Lord Takada to understand her
motives and to forgive her for such rash and disgraceful action.
~*~*~
Sango took a deep breath as she ascended the steps to the platform. Oh boy...Kagome...you've
really done it this time... she thought nervously.
Here goes nothing... she nodded to herself and took her first step towards Lord Takada, who's attention was still caught by the battle between Naraku and his challenger.
"Euhm...milord?" she called as she bowed until her mouth was on the same height as his ear.
"Yes Sango?" he responded without looking at her.
Sango gulped. "There's...euhm...a problem..."
Lord Takada finally turned his head to her and raised an eyebrow when he realized the maid was alone. "Is there something wrong with my daughter? Why isn't she with you?" he asked with a worried tone.
"Euh...well...milady is fine...I guess..." the maid stammered.
He frowned and gave her an expecting look.
"Milady...is missing...milord..."
Lord Takada widened his eyes but managed not to yell or shout out of shock in front of all the audience. "H-how? How did it happen?! Weren't you by her side??" he whispered, trying to be as calm as possible.
"Milady went to the bathroom and told me to stay outside. And then she asked me to get her powder-box from her bedroom. When I got back and asked her to open the door, she didn't reply so I had a guard open it for me. But when we entered the bathroom...milady wasn't there," Sango explained. "We only found her clothes and hair decorations...and the small window above the sink was wide open milord."
Lord Takada rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Did she leave something behind? A note of some kind?"
"No milord."
He thought for a moment, when suddenly an idea popped up inside his head. "She left all her garments behind you say?"
"Yes milord."
He motioned for the maid to lend him an ear. "Sango," he whispered. "I want you to change into Kagome's garments and come back with the veil over your head."
Sango widened her eyes. "B-but milord__"
"Don't worry, Kagome will still be the one getting married," he cut her off. "But I can't let anyone know that my daughter is missing, so you'll be disguising yourself as her for the moment. And in the meantime, I will have all of my guards search around for her."
The maid nodded understandingly. "I understand, milord." And with that, she turned around and walked back into the mansion to do what she was told.
~*~
"Come on! Let's hurry or that guy will definitely win the contest!"
Miroku complained as he ran through the streets of Shiho.
"I know!" Inuyasha replied, leaping from roof to roof.
After running a while, they finally reached the border of the city.
"There it is!!" Miroku pointed at a mass of people at a distance surrounding a big wooden construction with a thick tall pillar in the middle. All of this was located in the garden of a nearby mansion.
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes as he recognized one of the two participants on the battle stage. Although he had only met him once, he would never forget those annoying crimson eyes and that long wavy black hair of his.
While a scowl appeared on the hanyou's face as he jumped off of the roof to run next to his friend, a disappointed look could be seen on Miroku's face when he wasn't able to find his little angle on the platform near the masked bride and her father.
~*~
An extremely confident and victorious look appeared on Naraku's face when he
ducked an attack and successfully kicked his opponent off of the battle construction.
After he straightened himself up, he turned to Lord Takada. "See? I told you it would be a waste of time to continue the contest," he grinned.
Lord Takada scowled at his rudeness and arrogance but quickly hid his displeasure as he stood up from his chair. "Are there any more challengers left?" he asked with a clear voice, shifting his gaze from the crowd on the left and right. "If there are no more challengers left then__" his voice faltered when he saw Naraku jump onto the pillar where the blue bouquet was attached.
"Then I'll just claim what's rightfully mine, isn't that what you wanted to say my dear father-in-law?" Naraku smirked, crossing his arms.
Lord Takada widened his eyes. "How dare you?!"
Ignoring the Lord, Naraku unfolded his arms and kneeled to grab the bouquet. But just when he almost reached it, a loud voice halted him from a distance.
"STOP!!"
Before he could look over his shoulder to see who it was, he already got kicked
off of the wooden pillar onto a flat area of the construction.
The crowd gasped at the sudden attack and turned their attention to the new challenger, who gracefully landed next to Naraku.
Naraku let out a growl before pushing himself up to a kneeling position and turned his gaze aside to look at the one who kicked him.
Long silvery white hair, white dog-ears, golden eyes and red garments.
"You!" he growled menacingly, immediately recognizing the hanyou.
Inuyasha responded with a smirk.
Lord Takada drew their attention as he decided to speak again. "Young man, have you come to challenge this Naraku?" he asked.
The hanyou nodded. "Yes sir."
"Then can you please identify yourself?"
"My name is Inuyasha sir," he replied with a polite bow.
Sango widened her eyes behind the red veil. Inuyasha...? THE Inuyasha? T-then...he
and Kagome__ her thoughts were cut off by Naraku's loud voice.
"Wait a minute!! But he's a hanyou!!" the black-haired participant protested, emphasizing the word.
Inuyasha turned to him and wanted to argue but Lord Takada was ahead of him with speaking. "I can't remember setting up a rule in which youkai aren't allowed to participate Naraku." he replied.
Naraku grunted as he stood up and jumped to create a distance between him and the hanyou.
"Let the battle begin!" Lord Takada announced before settling himself on his chair again.
And the battle began.
Inuyasha jumped into a fighting stance and waited for his opponent to attack.
"You!!" Naraku growled. "How dare you spoil it for me again?! Haven't you had enough last time?!"
Inuyasha grinned. "That's my line." he responded. "Too bad you didn't have a tail or I could remind you that you ran away with you tail between your legs."
"Why you__" Without finishing his sentence, he charged at Inuyasha with his fists first, which Inuyasha easily dodged with a duck.
Before he could even look down at Inuyasha, the hanyou already floored him by grabbing his stretched-out arm and kicking one of his feet.
Naraku landed on his side on the timber with a thud. When he pushed himself up and shifted his gaze to Inuyasha, he realized that the hanyou had jumped onto a wooden pole at a distance and was looking down on him with a smirk on his face. "Teme!!!" he cursed and quickly jumped onto a pole near him.
~*~
Lord Takada watched the battle with an amused expression and turned to the maid
in disguise beside him. "Looks like we've got a new winner here,"
he whispered.
Sango nodded before shifting her attention back to the silver-haired challenger and drifted into her own thoughts. I'm not mistaking...am I? This man...called himself Inuyasha...then he must know about Kagome... she mused inwardly. But what if this Inuyasha is not the one who made that promise? What is he's someone bad who pursues her?
She pondered for a moment. He really matches the description of the man who saved Kagome last time...And those things they said to each other... But then she shook off the useless mental debating. I better wait for Kagome to find out herself than to decided and do things I'm not sure of. she decided and continued to watch the contest.
~*~
"Give it up Naraku, you're no match for me," Inuyasha suggested as he parried another attack coming from the black-haired man.
"Like hell I would! Unless you kill me, I will NEVER admit defeat!!" Naraku snapped in reply as he continued to launch punches at the hanyou.
Inuyasha frowned, but his ears perked up when he picked up a quite useful tip coming from the crowd.
"Does he actually want to die? I mean...the battle ends anyway if he gets thrown off of the stage..."
Naraku noticed the distraction on Inuyasha's face and grinned as his eyes fell
upon the sword that hung around his waist. Without second thought, his hand
shot out to grab the hilt.
But as soon as he touched it, a surge of electricity shot through his hand and body, causing him to cry out in pain and stumble backwards.
It was then that Inuyasha realized what had happened and he smirked at the foolish attempt of his opponent. "I guess this Tetsusaiga of mine doesn't accept those who want to use it for dirty tricks," he chuckled as he patted his sword.
Naraku growled as he held the wrist of his injured hand. Like a mad animal, he lunged forward at Inuyasha again with his uninjured hand balled into a fist.
Although Inuyasha should praise the human for his perseverance, he let out an amused chuckled as he realized it meant only more humiliation that he could cause the bastard.
I guess I should put an end to this. he decided mentally as he dodged the attack with a back-flip and jumped high into the sky.
While in the sky, he unsheathed Tetsusaiga, which immediately transformed into a large fang-blade, and sent several blades of light to several different spots of the construction. And without sheathing his sword, he made a swift somersault before landing on top of the thick pillar at the center.
Stupefied by the sudden attack, which wasn't even close to hitting him, Naraku
just stood there on the stage and wondered what the use of the attack was. Suddenly,
the sound of splitting wood could be heard and the next thing he knew was that
the whole stage was trembling and was starting to collapse.
A large cloud of dust rose from the battle stage area and masked it from the audience on the left and right as large pieces of timber made impact with the earth. After a while, the dusty cloud dissipated and everybody gasped when they saw that the entire construction was literally leveled.
Naraku, who did not see this entire coming, found himself standing on the ground. When he looked around, he realized that the hanyou's attack earlier was meant to destroy every single support of the construction. Which apparently leaded to the collapse of the entire stage. All except for one thick pillar at the center of the rubble. His gaze traveled to the top of it and stopped when his crimson eyes met the golden ones, which were looking down at him.
A moment of silence was soon broken when a wave of cheering filled the air as
the audience realized that the outcome of the contest had been decided.
Naraku, who had to admit his defeat, clenched his fists and silently walked away from the contest area. Just you wait hanyou...I will have my revenge... he thought determined as he left the garden.
A content look could be seen on Inuyasha's face when he saw the defeated and
humiliated expression on the bastard's face before disappearing around the corner
of a nearby building. He sheathed his sword and folded his arms as he enjoyed
the cheering coming from the crowd that was proving his victory.
The commotion died down when Lord Takada stood up and held up his hand. "Ladies
and gentlemen," he began. "As you can see, this contest has come to
an end, since there's no possibility to hold another battle anymore. But I am
honored that you all will be the witnesses of the unquestionable outcome of
this battle."
"Inuyasha," he called out the winner's name. "Will you please end the tradition and pick up the blue bouquet near your feet?"
Inuyasha, oblivious to what the 'tradition' actually was, knelt down and detached the bouquet from the pillar before standing up again.
Lord Takada smiled. "As I have announced before, the tradition of the battle for the bride says...that whoever gets his hand on the flower will get the hand of the bride. So Inuyasha...I hereby announce you as my rightful son-in-law and grant you my daughter's hand in marriage." he said as he took the hand of the masked bride next to him.
Inuyasha froze and widened his eyes at hearing this. He had completely forgotten
about the meaning of the contest and had now suddenly become the winner of the
battle for the bride while his purpose of participating was only meant to defeat
and humiliate Naraku.
Inuyasha, who had promised his childhood girlfriend to ask her hand in marriage, was now engaged to another, unknown girl.
All of the commotion and loud cheering suddenly became inaudible to him, despite his sensitive hearing, and only one word occupied his mind.
Shimatta...
Hehehe how did you like this one? I hope you're not all too confused about the plot, because it will be more complicated later ^-^. To enlighten you, Inuyasha doesn't know that the bride is Kagome, and he doesn't know that Kagome is Lord Takada's daughter okay? Anyway, please look forward to the next chapter!
Next chapter: Missing betrothed
~*~
\\"Sir, I have come to report that we have found milady and that she will
be brought back to the mansion as soon as possible."//
~*~
Vocabulary:
teme: a very rude way to refer to someone as 'you'
hanyou: half-demon
Tetsusaiga: (I think this way of writing the name is much cooler than
just 'Tessaiga") It the sword that belongs to Inuyasha, given by his father.
shimatta: oh no...
~*~
REPLIES ON REVIEWS:
KitsuneNeko, yukina-dark, um...., hanyougal34, Rhexi: Thank you all for reading and reviewing my story!!! I'll try to update as soon as possible!
Kaiyouu: Hahaha I'm terribly sorry, but I can't seem to help it and prevent myself from using cliffhangers ^-^. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
whitemiko: Sorry for the late update, I hope you liked this chapter ^-^.
LadyJynjr: Hahaha not any time soon, that I can tell you ^-^. Thanks for reviewing and putting my in the favorites list. And about Kikyou...she is going to appear later but don't worry, the pairing won't change ^-^.
Akai Kiniro: Hmm Kouga has already appeared in this story, but I don't think he'll appear again. As for Kanna and Kagura...I don't really know, sorry ^-^. And about Kagome and Inuyasha, hehehe they will not recognize each other any time soon *grins evilly*. And the length of the chapters? You see, the problem is, I'm not an English native speaker and it takes me some time to write a proper chapter in English since my vocabulary is quite small. So the longer the chapter, the longer it takes me to update.
Ayame13: Hahaha thanks for reading and reviewing my story, but I can't reveal anything about my story, or else it would spoil the suspense ^-^.
myinuyasha04: Thank you very much!!
Kyia: Yeah... it gets messier hehehe, hope you still like the story ^-^.
Ks-Starshine: Yeah wait and see ^-^! Thanks for reviewing!!
power-to-the-pink: Thanks for reading and reviewing!! Good luck with
your stories!
~*~
Lots of greets
~Kittymui~
Posted: 2 March 2004
Last Edited: 2 March 2004
Spelling check: YES