Just to let you know, the first part of this chapter is not in chronological order with the others. It's sort of an explanation for the last part of the last chapter, if that makes any sense. I thought it was weird how Kikyou got a letter from Kagome out of the blue…
The Princess and the Pauperess
Chapter 13
Prison
"Man, I'm so tired," she noted to herself, yawning hugely. She got out of bed, took a step, and tripped over something. "Ow!" she cried as her body made graceless contact with the hard floor.
"What time is it?" someone asked groggily. She squealed and quickly faced whoever it was. "Stop screamin, it's givin me a headache…" It was Inuyasha. Sleeping on her floor for some reason.
"Inuyasha, what are you doing in my room?" she asked.
"You were the one who made me stay," he told her as he sat up, rubbing his neck. "I'm never sleeping on this floor again," he mused.
"Good." Kagome crossed her arms over her chest, looking away. She didn't remember ever making Inuyasha stay in her room. He must've been sleepwalking, and thought she was Kikyou, and…and… "Oh, god!" she exclaimed, the blood rushing from her head in the horror of her thoughts.
"What's wrong with you now?" he demanded irritably as he popped his neck.
"You had another Kikyou attack and molested me in my sleep, didn't you?" She stood and made quick distance.
"What? You dumbass! If anything, you molested me. I woke up and you were draped all over me." Kagome felt herself blush at his comment. As if she would drape herself all over anyone, much less someone she didn't even like.
"You liked it, didn't you?" she teased, delighting in how red his face turned.
"What guy wouldn't?!" he retorted angrily. He seemed to be being honest…
"Did I really do that?" she asked.
"Yes!" he cried exasperatedly.
"Well, I must've had a good reason," she told herself.
"Yeah, if you consider grieving over your father a good reason…"
"Oh my god! My father! Kouga! Kikyou! I keep forgetting!" She darted over to the desk and pulled out a piece of paper, a pen, and some ink.
"What?" Inuyasha wondered.
"I forgot to tell Kikyou when we're switching!" She hurriedly dipped the pen into the ink. "Wait…I don't even know when Kohaku--"
"Midweek next week." She turned to Inuyasha, who had stood by that time, and shot him a look.
"How do you know?" she demanded incredulously.
"Naraku told you earlier this morning. I guess you were still too braindead to--"
"Shut up! I need silence to write!" She had to concentrate too hard on spelling to allow noise.
Kohaku is too arive midweek next weak. We should switch that eavning at nightfall.
"Damn, your spelling is horrendous," Inuyasha noted as he laughed to himself.
"I told you to shut up. It's all your fault." She crossed her arms.
"Uh huh…Do you want my help or not?"
"Whatever." He reached over her shoulder and grabbed the pen, dipping it in the ink again.
"Move," he said. She obligingly rose and allowed him to take her place at the desk. He made some marks over and rewrote some of her letter. "There."
"Thanks," she said as he handed her the pen and stood. "You're not such a bad guy after all."
"Don't say that ever again," he warned. She couldn't tell if he was joking or not. He sauntered to the door and pulled it open. "I'll get the messenger." And he was gone. She sat down and looked at his helpful little notes.
"Eavning"? What the fuck is an eavning?!
She sighed. At least he had nice handwriting…
. . . . .
Kikyou sat on her side of the bars, talking quietly with Kouga. He looked more and more unhealthy the longer he was locked up in that cell.
"So Kagome and I will be switching back soon," she informed him. His look sharpened.
"What?"
"I know how to pardon you. Kagome doesn't know the procedures, and even if I told her, she wouldn't execute them properly," she explained.
"Don't use that word," he said.
"What?"
"Nothing. It was just a joke."
"I'm sorry, Kouga. I'm just so…I'm so worried. What if this doesn't work out? What if you--"
"Don't talk like that!" he bellowed, silencing her. She felt tears prick her eyes. As a princess, she had been trained to never cry. She had been told that beautiful ladies did not cry. "Kikyou, I love you. I would never leave you." She closed her eyes as he cupped her face in his hands, gently wiping away with his thumb the one tear that fell.
"Two days till your head rolls!" a gleeful voice suddenly called. Kikyou whirled her head in that direction. It was one of the guards.
"Two days?!" she cried. "Midweek won't be for another four!" The guard shrugged.
"Not my problem."
"Kikyou, what's wrong?" Kouga asked.
"Oh, god. I messed up. I messed up…" She stood and faced the guards. "You cannot execute this man!" she told them firmly.
"Oh, really? The king's law says we can," one of them retorted.
"The king's daughter says you can't!" They laughed. "I am Princess Kikyou, only daughter of the King and heir to the throne!"
"That's treason, little lady. Claiming to be someone you're not." The guards moved toward her.
"I am who I say I am. I've been in hiding for the past month," she insisted.
"If you've been gone, how come we haven't heard about it?" They were in range to grab her.
"I don't have to explain anything to you, you dogs! You swine!"
"Kikyou!" Kouga called. She screamed as her body was thrown against the bars with the force of the backhanded blow she'd received to the face.
"That'll teach you," one of the guards growled. She sank to the ground. Her face was numb, and she could not see out of one eye.
"Kouga, I'm so sorry," she whispered as each guard took one of her arms and hoisted her to her feet.
"You'll be executed, too, Kikyou!" he replied desperately, reaching through the bars in vain.
"Kikyou?! Oh my god, what's going on?" Sango's voice called. She heard the patter of feat running in her direction.
"Stand back," one of the guards said. Sango stopped. "This girl here's under arrest for treason."
"What?"
"It's true, Sango. I told them I was the princess."
"Oh no," Sango gasped. "She's crazy. She's my little sister. I saw myself when she fell from the roof. She's never been the same--"
"That won't work. What do you think this is?" one of the guards demanded.
"It's okay, Sango. Just tell Kagome. Tell her what's going on."
She was roughly tossed into the cell across from Kouga's. She didn't want to take responsibility for what she'd done. She didn't want to know that Kouga was going to die; she didn't want to feel the dull throb in her face anymore. So she closed her eyes.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wah! Poor Kikyou and Kouga! I feel so bad for them, but my sadistic nature is telling me to torture them more…And what is up with this new system ffnet has? It won't let me do smiley faces anymore! WHY?! Ahem…At least this story is finally coming to a climax. That's good news for everyone, especially all you patient readers out there. Yay, yay!
Dedications:
Shrimple13: Yay! I'm glad you like this story! For some reason, Inu/Kag fluff doesn't come easily in this story, but I will try to squeeze some in before the end. Who does Naraku love? Hm…good question. I'll give you a hint: her name starts with a 'K'. (Insert winking smiley face here.) Thank you so much for your review!
WindSprite: Haha! I think Kagura should beat up on Sesshoumaru more often, too. Perhaps she will, who knows? As for Miroku telling Sango the truth…Hopefully he won't have to, cause he seems to have bad luck in that area. Heh, I know what you mean about your typing reverberating off the walls. I used to update The Wish to Break All during my Webpage Design class at school, while we were supposed to be quietly reading from our books. Hahaha…good times…
AngleCat HellFire: Yay! I'm so happy you like it!! Woohoo! Thanks for your review.
Princess Krystal01: Yeah, poor Miroku…Hopefully things will look up for him in the next chapter! (Insert smiley.)
Rayoko: Wow! What an unexpectedly awesome review!!! I'm warning you, this is by far the best story I've written, so you might not like my others.
SWEET! I got five AWESOME reviews!!! You all have made me a very happy authoress. (Insert insanely happy smiley face.) And I'm sorry this chapter was so short. I always do that. Cause I zone out so much, it feels like I've written a lot, but I really haven't. Does anyone else have that problem? If so, has anyone figured out how to solve it? I would love to know.