Another's Name But My Heart

By Lady of the Ink

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but you knew that . . .I hope. But I do own this plot and all the twists that it takes.

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Chapter Twenty-Nine

There's Your Trouble

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Inuyasha sighed and dragged a hand roughly through his hair as he left his parents seated in the library. He had just spent the previous hour convincing them not to pay a visit to Kikyo quite yet. Silently cursing whoever it was who had let it slip that she'd returned, he'd offered up every excuse that he could think of: she was resting after a long trip, she was getting caught up with her friends and family, she was readying herself to meet her new in laws for the first time. He had managed to put them off for a while, but knowing them as he did, he knew his reprieve would only last for a short while. It would only take a little bit of time for them to realize that something was up if he refused to let them meet his wife. Even if they didn't, by the eagerness they'd shown to meet their daughter-in-law, Inuyasha knew he had two or three days at the most to present Kikyo to them.

Closing the door tightly, he paused for a moment of uninterrupted thought. While having Kikyo back at the castle was the first and by far the most important step in his plan, it was only the beginning. He still had to convince her to go through with the wedding as soon as possible. He didn't foresee too many problems in that department once he made it clear that she had no choice in the matter. It was all coming down to a matter of timing, of carrying it off without anyone learning the whole of what was going on.

Inuyasha had had a conversation with Miroku in order to ensure that the priest would be ready to perform the ceremony at a moment's notice. He didn't want to risk even the smallest delay due to someone being unprepared. His foresight had earned him a number of judging looks and a lecture that he had cut off the moment he had seen where it was going. The last thing he needed in his life was someone he had only known for a few months telling him what to do about the woman who wasn't his wife and the one who was going to be his wife, whether she liked it or not.

He resumed his walk down the hall, determined to put some distance between himself and his parents. He'd worn himself out mentally while deflecting their first inquisition; he knew he wouldn't be able to take another one. His best bet, as he saw it, was to retreat to some quiet spot until it was time for him to make his next move. It was the smart thing to do, since that next move was sure to be as trying, if not more trying, than the confrontation with his mother and father had been.

Kikyo had been taken to a small secluded room within an hour of her arrival. That was where she had remained through the following night and day, with no visitors but the ones he himself approved of beforehand. A guard stood watch outside her door at all times, as much to keep others out as to keep her in. Inuyasha had no doubts about the loyalty of his men. If they found out what she had done and was, in fact, still trying to do, there was no end to the harm they could and would do to her.

For the time being, he needed her alive and well, and in as much of a cooperative mood as was possible. Once the wedding occurred, she would be protected by the fact that she was his wife, wanted or not. His men wouldn't dare lay a hand on her without his permission. Both that knowledge and the guard assuaged the part of him that had been instilled with honor from his father, and the promise he had made to protect those weaker than him that he had made to his mother.

As for Kikyo, she said and did nothing without his knowledge. Their first face-to-face meeting had been less than smooth. She had spent half of the time glaring at him with the tinge of disgust usually reserved for something scraped off the bottom of a shoe. The other half of the visit she had spent ignoring him, turning her eyes to an empty corner of the room and keeping them locked there. With her arms crossed over her chest and her nose in the air, she was the picture of indifference. Through the entire hour that he had spent alone with her, she hadn't uttered a single word. Even as he told her his plans for the wedding and her life afterward, she had maintained her silence.

He had to admit, if only to himself, that her lack of reaction worried him. He had expected everything from tears to threats to physical violence. The fact that none of them had come raised his suspicions. There had to be something going on inside her devious mind that was allowing her to stay so calm and aloof.

The meeting he had scheduled for after his talk with his parents was meant to accomplish one goal. He intended to use the time to find out what she had planned and then to find a way to put a stop to it. Inuyasha refused to allow anything that Kikyo might have up her sleeve to get in his way now that he was so close to getting what he wanted. He had fought too long and hard to risk letting some scheme defeat him.

Inuyasha finally made his way to the upstairs hall. He slipped into his room, eager for the time to himself. Between his duties, his parents, and the situation with Kikyo, he'd had little enough of it lately. Even his nights were troubled as his dreams led him to places that his conscious mind declared off limits. It was a good thing he didn't need a lot of rest or he'd have been little more than a worthless zombie, sleepwalking his way through the days.

All thoughts of rest quickly vanished as his eyes locked onto the other occupant of his room. Shippo sat on the large wooden trunk that rested at the foot of his bed, his small shoulders slumped. Soft, hiccupping noises escaped him every few seconds.

As soon as he realized that Inuyasha had arrived, his posture straightened and he hurriedly wiped at his cheeks. The glare he sent across the room was no less heated for the red-rimmed eyes it came from. Confused, Inuyasha was about to ask him what his problem was when the crumples piece of paper laying at Shippo's side caught his attention.

"Where did you get that?" he demanded, jabbing a finger towards the note. He had a sinking suspicion that he already knew the answer, but hoped that he was wrong.

Shippo didn't respond right away. He just continued to glare defiantly before breaking out angrily. "What did you do to Kagome?"

Inuyasha suppressed a flinch. The use of that name proved that his assumption and worst fear had been correct. No one besides Miroku and himself knew that particular detail of the ordeal, which was just the way that he wanted it. To hear her name caused a strange twinge at the back of his mind - a reminder of how he had been deceived, he told himself.

That very twinge and the knowledge that Shippo had read every personal and humiliating word put Inuyasha in a defensive mood. It was not a position he enjoyed being in and it quickly gave rise to his anger. Stomping across the room, he snatched the letter off the trunk. He waved it under Shippo's nose and snapped, "If you read this then you should know that she was the one who did something to me. I'm not the bad guy here."

He came to regret his sharp tone almost immediately when Shippo's lower lip started to tremble. The kitsune bit it bit couldn't stop the tears that welled in his eyes. His voice was thready and more high-pitched than usual as he wailed, "But she didn't even say goodbye!" He sobbed, burying his face in his small hands.

Inuyasha shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, unsure of what to do with the tiny, crying form in front of him. A part of him wanted to tell Shippo to suck it up and get over it. But there was another part of him that knew how Shippo felt and wanted to offer comfort in some way. A very small and quickly denied portion of him wanted to join in.

Shaking that final one off, he went with what he saw as the safest available option. He crossed the room and took a seat on the edge of the bed. Having seen first hand on several occasions just how close Shippo and Kagome had grown, he knew the whelp was taking her sudden absence hard. He also knew that that was something he couldn't change with just a few words, but he had to try.

"She didn't say goodbye to anybody, so you can't take it personally. It was just best for everybody if she left quietly."

"It wasn't best for me! She promised she'd always be there for me!" Shippo's voice broke with the force of his response.

Inuyasha strove for patience. "Sometimes people have to do things that they don't really want to do, things that we don't want them to have to do. It's just the way things are."

"But it's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair, and it's time you accept that. Everyone has to face hard obstacles and make tough choices. Sometimes you get hit with decisions so difficult, you can't even imagine being able to handle them. But you just fight your way forward and do the best that you can to pick the right one. Sometimes you have no other option but to sacrifice what could be for the sure things that you've worked for." Inuyasha paused and then sighed. "I can't tell you that it gets any easier with time, because it doesn't. But I can tell you that your not the only one who thinks it sucks."

The room fell into a thick silence, broken only by the occasional sniffle from Shippo. Just when Inuyasha began to grow uncomfortable with the amount that he had said, Shippo's tentative voice drifted to his ears.

"Do you hate her?"

Inuyasha knew immediately who Shippo meant, but there was still a long pause before he answered. For some reason, he found himself wanting to be as honest as possible with his reply. "I don't think so. What she did, maybe, but not her."

"She kind of had to do it, right? It's like what you said about having to make tough choices. She had to choose whether to lie or to put her family in danger."

"Yeah, I guess she did."

"So really, it's all Kikyo's fault, since she's the one who made Kagome do it."

"Umm," Inuyasha muttered noncommittally.

"Then why are you going to marry her?" Shippo practically yelled. Inuyasha found himself less surprised that he knew of those plans than at the amount of feeling in his sudden outburst. It all became clear when Shippo went on. "If you marry Kikyo, she'll be here forever and Kagome will never come back!"

"I'm not sure she'd want to come back even if Kikyo weren't here," he answered carelessly. The next thing he knew, he had an enraged kitsune gnawing on his head.

"I knew it! You did something to her, didn't you, you big stupid jerk!"

Annoyed, Inuyasha sent him flying with a flick of his wrist. "Shut up. I didn't do anything to her, brat. It's complicated, which you might understand when you get bigger. That is, if you ever get any bigger," he added just loudly enough for Shippo to hear. An audible growl crossed the room, but Inuyasha stood before Shippo could launch another attack. Making his way to the door, he spoke in the kitsune's general direction. "I don't have time for this. I have a lot of things to do. Keep your mouth shut about Kikyo and . . .Kagome, or I'll come back and pound you down an inch you can't afford to lose."

He was almost to the hall when he heard Shippo's heavy sigh. "I miss her."

'I know how you feel.'

X

Sango stared at Miroku in disbelief. The tale of deception, intrigue, and a doomed-from-the-start romance that he had woven seemed too farfetched to believe. It was only her own memory of his recent mood and the somber air he maintained during the telling that kept her from discounting it immediately. Once she recalled the more than just friendly interaction she'd witnessed between Inuyasha and the woman she'd known as Kikyo, though, other things began to make sense. As close as even she had noted them to be, the truth must have been painful for them both. Their absences over the past days were now completely understandable.

Shaking her head, Sango blew out a disbelieving breath. "That's the most incredible thing I've ever heard. I can barely accept that it's true."

"I know what you mean. I was just as startled when Inuyasha told me. Kagome - that's her name, not Kikyo - seemed like such a lovely woman. She was so kind, so helpful, so well formed . . ." His voice trailed off and his expression grew dreamy with what she was sure were thoughts unbefitting of a holy man. A quick slap brought him firmly back to the moment.

"Could you focus on something other than your lechery for more than five minutes, please?" she asked with a stern look. He lifted his eyebrows in a mute gesture of surprised innocence that she ignored completely. "What's bothering me is this new Kikyo. The kind of person who could orchestrate all of this is someone I'd want to keep a close eye on. It's hard to say how far she'd be willing to go to get what she wants." She paused as something occurred to her. Miroku seemed to know she was onto to something and watched her intently, but didn't speak.

"The kind of person," she began haltingly, "who would do all of this is the kind of person who would do anything. Even . . .even attack an innocent boy in order to provoke a certain reaction."

She had to give him credit; he caught on quickly. "You mean your brother?"

Sango nodded. "Just before Kohaku went missing, a woman tried to hire me to attack Inuyasha. When I said no, she all but threatened exploded. I never saw her face, but I have a feeling that if I heard Kikyo speak, I'd recognize the voice."

Miroku hummed softly, peaking his hands beneath his chin as he absorbed her revelation. Cocking one eyebrow, he studied her closely. "What do you think this means?"

"That Kikyo is a bigger threat than anyone knows."