Disclaimer- I do not in any way, shape or forms condone slavery of any kind, nor do I own Inuyasha, which belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. The Seer and the Sword, which is the basis for this plot is something I do not own either. There may be sayings or phrases that you recognize from the book, and those don't belong to me either. The only thing that belongs to me is the idea to use the book as a basis for an Inuyasha story. So, Meh! I'm making no money off this piece of fanfiction, and please pardon the grammatical, spelling, etc. errors. There, I think that's it. Wooh!
The Seer and the Stone
By
Uplifted
Chapter One
Princess Kagome fidgeted impatiently as she sat on her mahogany stool, working her restless fingers through the horror that was embroidery. Her mother, Queen Higurashi of Musashi and heavy with pregnancy was quiet and calm; she patiently stitched thread after thread. Higurashi was a softly passive queen, one who loved peace and stability, and one who was beloved by her country. The threads she manipulated so easily that were so vibrant and colorful betrayed a calenture the queen rarely showed in the harsh politics followed by her war-mongering husband, who was currently at war with the beautiful country of the demons. Queen Higurashi had visited friends in the demon country various times, and was saddened that the beauty would be ravished by the war her husband wrought to the peaceful kingdom.
For years, many conquerors had stayed away from the demon country, for the rulers of the land were said to possess a magical sword that protected the family housing it, and it's homeland. But, as King Higurashi had said, the demon family had 'too long flaunted it's pretty flowers in the faces of our warlords'.
Kagome's burst of productivity with the needle and thread faded, and she looked up through a curtain of dark hair at her mother, and the old nurse who sat near the queen, weaving.
'Mama, may I go riding?' she asked, watching out of the stone window as the sun began to set; touching the horizon gently, it washed the battlements and the nearby forest in orange fire. The young princess was eager to escape the confines of the palace, and even more eager to see her father again, if she was lucky enough to see him riding home so soon.
The old maid known as 'Asuka', who was kept busy watching the expecting queen chuckled as she spun her loom over and under in the repeating pattern that was weaving. The princess always wanted to go riding.
The queen stared silently at her only child, and forgot Kagome's request, as she became lost in thought.
The queen worried for her husband's safety, and that of the unborn child she carried. Twelve miscarriages spanning over a decade and one healthy daughter barely ten years old was not the best past for a woman her age, and pregnant. But King Higurashi would never forsake her for another, younger woman, for all his violent wars and yearnings for expansion. Even for an heir, he would not annul their marriage, for he loved his family. It was only for his daughter that he became 'Father', and it was only to his wife that he became 'husband'. The only two in the realm that he did not need to rule over were the only two that he could firmly be un-royal in the only way he knew how.
And so the queen's worries were, in part, unfounded. But the Queen Higurashi was interrupted in her musings, and the princess was interrupted in her shifting impatiently by the entrance of a boy at the door, a gaspingly out of breath trainee of Totosai, the trainer of the Kingdom's most elite soldiers. The boy was a friend with the Princess Kagome who frequently haunted the castle training grounds.
'P-Princess Kagome! We've spotted the King returning!' Hojo stuttered, normally pale face flushed with the excitement the return of their King warranted. Kagome stood quickly, her stool falling beneath her exuberance as an older soldier on guard duty rushed into the room.
'Your highness, I apologize- I couldn't stop-' he stuttered as the two children dashed out of sight to the stables.
Queen Higurashi's heart had stopped when it heard her husband was coming home. She stood, her stitching falling to floor in a haphazard heap. Had he been injured?
But somehow, blackness was the Queen's only answer.
Asuka leapt to her feet the moment the queen began to fall, and the soldier rushed in unhesitatingly to catch the unconscious queen.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Kagome had seen her mother begin to fall, but her feet had carried her away to her little pony before she could see properly beyond the soldier and the nurse.
Hojo and Kagome rode swiftly and hard in the direction of the King's war-horse, Obsidian, who had been spotted by the sentries. The minutes raced as Kagome delighted in having the free wind on her laughing face while the sun finished setting quietly in front of the two children. After twilight's streaks of plum had faded to night's blanket of black with stars glinting in the sky, the two slowed their pace, mindful of their horses. Soon after, Kagome's straining wars caught the telltale clop of horses' hooves.
'Father!' She cried, urging her spoiled, fat pony onward.
Her father's wide, smiling face atop his huge, muscled beast of burden soon came into her darkened view, and Hojo's surprised cry at her speed faded as King Higurashi swung his young child up to join him on his black horse, Obsidian. He handed the reins of Kagome's pony to Hojo, who fell instep besides Naraku, the young General of the Army, and trusted advisor to the King. His looks had been compared to a woman's in his flawless skin, and long ivory locks. But those who uttered such mocking remarks often found themselves in rather peculiar situations, such as, at the tip of Naraku's sword. Naraku was well respected though, in and off the field of battle. An opponent had never defeated him, (the same could be said for the King) and it was said that dust parted for him. His stony, stoic face held only the merest glint of a smile as daughter and father reunited
'Did you win?' asked the longhaired child, and her father snorted.
'Would I have returned if I had not?' he returned, somewhat sharply.
Kagome only smiled. Her knowledge of her father's campaigns was that of a child's, therefor limited, much to the delight of her parents.
The returning travelers rode quietly, as Kagome told her father all of her doings in the castle, and around. He chuckled at her mischief and shook his head at her numerous pranks. Hojo, riding stiffly behind the king and under the watch of Naraku, smiled as she listed whom she had tricked, and how. It was well known that the Princess was a lover of mischief and fun.
The king smiled to his daughter fondly as she finished speaking. They were nearing the castle Kagome had raced away from now, and moments between the two with less than two hundred courtiers watching were a rarity.
'I have a gift for you, Kagome, from our most recent conquest.' He handed a small jewel to Kagome, who grasped it gently, enough to keep it in her grasp without fear of breakage. The jewel's cloudy pink surface was enticing, and she rubbed a finger over it slowly. 'Thank you father!' she cried, and hugged him tightly about his waist, the only place she could reach. The king returned the hug briefly, smiling at her pleasure. Hojo and Naraku had watched on, neither really paying attention.
The sharp sounds of a horse's galloping halted the hug, and the same guard who had come with Hojo to the Queen's chamber reined in shortly in front of the group, and worked his way to the king.
'My king,' he gasped out, 'The queen has been taken early.'
The words wrought instant change in the King's countenance. His strong hands encircled Kagome, and deposited her in the lap of Naraku before she could protest that she could ride her pony without being treated like she was a child, never mind the fact that she was a child.
'Leave the child at the palace, and then hasten to the men. See to it that they are provisioned and paid fully. Then find me.' The king barked out at Naraku. At the dark haired mans nod, King Higurashi swiftly and skillfully maneuvered Obsidian towards the castle, and broke into a canter.
'Take care of the child!' floated back to the four left in the giant war horses dust. The guard stalked forward to Hojo and grasped his ear. Yowling, the two walked away, towards the stables.
Naraku's tired horse continued it's slow walk, and Kagome turned her head up to his silent face.
'What did the guard mean, about my mother?' Kagome asked the general, who shrugged. The princess sighed, and clutched the cool coldness of the stone in her hand for reassurance. Suddenly, unbidden, a picture formed in her mind
A midwife was standing next to her mother in her royal bedchamber, and she looked exhausted.
'The baby?' Kagome watched her tired mother voice.
'A boy milady. Stillborn.' The midwife replied, and the queen began to sob.
'No!' Kagome cried, and tore her mind away from the sight. The stone, once cool, was now warm, and Kagome leapt from her perch on the general to her own pony, which had followed Naraku's horse. The young general stared, then followed as the princess began to gallop towards the castle on her dappled little pony. After seeing the princess safely home, he went off to complete his tasks, face stone cool and aloof as always.
The princess, however, had tears streaking her eyes, mud streaking her skirts and the wind on her cheeks as she burst into the corridor to her mother's chamber. A gaggle of court ladies stood, gossiping and loud, and Kagome leapt through them like flame on a green stick, flinging her arms out and crying for her mother. She nearly reached the door, before the ladies flocked about her, restraining her, and her attempt to get to her mother.
She was released outside her own chamber by the ladies, and told to get some rest. She screamed at them, and tried to bite a few, but eventually, after her actions had no effect, she ceased them, and cried herself to sleep on her bed.
Kaede, mother to the King, and grandmother to the princess, walked steadily through the halls in the brisk morning air that flooded the castle through the opened windows. Her clothes were the traditional mourning of white, and she made her way towards her slumbering grandchild's room, long gray hair swinging behind her. Her only grandchild. The wars had claimed her husband, and eleven of her twelve sons. The last, and youngest, ruled now.
She knocked on the door, and walked in after no response was made. She found Kagome sitting in her bed, with her knees folded to her chest and the coverlet pulled up to her chin, a pale color to her normally wind-chapped face. She glanced at her grandmother and crawled over to her by the edge of the bed.
'Grandmother Kaede?' She asked, eyes wide with question at the color of Kaede's robes. This conversation had happened before.
'A stillborn son.' The grandmother said finally, after a pregnant pause.
Kagome bit her lip, but Kaede was puzzled to see, through her one good eye, that the child did not seem surprised. Was she too used to the sill born births of her mother?
'Grandmother, this jewel showed me the stillborn son yesterday!' she finally cried, holding the swirling pink jewel out in the palm of her hand. The small thing winked at the aged once-queen, who stared intently at both the jewel, and her granddaughter.
The queen had labored through the night, and the babe had been born this morning. Not yesterday.
As the old grandmother looked surprised, the young princess started to cry, tears seeping down her cheek. Kaede thought, as she motioned for Kagome to become encircled in her arms, in a fierce hug. Could she be a Seer? A great one is born every few generations, and they are rare. Only a small few can see both the past, and the future, and they were valued highly in neighboring kingdoms. But Kaede had never heard of a Seer coming from the Kingdom of Musashi. Most had been born into the peaceful country of the Demons, where Inutaisho was the ruler, along with his sons, his wife having past away a few years ago.
But little Kagome, who prospered on escaping her minders, and playing small games with the servants, a Seer? Kaede didn't know, and so kept her thoughts to herself.
'Come child, let us go to the Great Hall. You father summons you.' Kaede murmured as the little one started to dry her eyes. Kagome nodded silently, and stood, going to her closet, to find her mourning clothes.
Down in the Hall, the King stared motionlessly at the tiny coffin where his son rested, for eternity.
'If I had ridden slower, would you live yet?' he asked himself, staring intently at the box. He had seen the tiny replica of a human, blue and unmoving, and the sight had moved him to tears. He, who had been in countless battles, cried over his lost son. His trusted confidante, Naraku, moved closer to the mourning king.
'My sincerest regrets for you, my liege.' He said, bowing his head, and withholding most of his emotions. Sorrow seemed to stem from him, and the King nodded, and then shook his head in sadness.
'A boy, Naraku.' The king said. Naraku bowed his head.
A flurry of white hem caught the king's eye, and he turned to see his daughter, his only child, and the future for his kingdom. She would not rule of course; her husband would rule. She would be trained to be a King's wife. It was her role in life.
But her role now, was in a fine white dress, with her sable hair unbound and gracing her shoulders, and her brown eyes tinged red with the unmistakable sign of tears. It shook the King to realize that not a day had passed since he had returned. What had happened to his smiling daughter?
He sighed. 'This miscarriages has changed us all,' he murmured. Naraku caught the words and nodded.
The king strode to his daughter, and knelt to see her eyes.
'Hello, daughter.' He said. Kagome stared at him, and then brought out his gift that he had given her last night.
'Father,' she whispered, 'Where did you get this?'
He shook his head in perplexity. 'In the Demon country Kagome. I found it there.'
'You didn't steal it?' She persisted.
'No, dearest. Now,' he swung his arm outwards, 'time for the second part of your present.' He looked to his second-in-command. 'Naraku, fetch the boy.'
The dark haired man nodded, and left.
'Kagome, this is the second part of your present. I brought him all the way from the Demon Country, and he is yours.' The king said, loudly and grandly.
Kagome stared in astonishment, although she kept her composure as Naraku dragged in a boy, with his hands bound behind his back and his legs hobbled. The boy's white hair fluttered in the still-morning air, and sharp ocher eyes glared at her under white bangs. His pale face stared at her under the various cuts and bruises that adorned his facial features and her own face flinched in empathy for his wounds. She whirled to her father, white dress flaring around her ankles.
'Who is he? What is he doing like that- All tied up?' she asked.
Her father regarded her silently, before turning to look at the boy.
'He is a gift Kagome. Your new slave.'
Thank you for reading! Please vote for which person should be the captive- Sesshomaru or Inuyasha? It's up to you!