A/N: Hey everyone. I'm back with chapter five of Behind the Masquerade. Hope you enjoy the chapter! Sorry about the late update!
Disclaimer: I own about as much as you can get with five dollars. And
as we all know, Inuyasha doesn't cost five dollars. More like five
million.
Behind the Masquerade
Enraged Encounter
Kagome awoke to the usual sun shining into her eyes and she made a
diminutive delighted sound in her throat, snuggling back into the
confines of her blanket. She sighed cheerfully when she didn't hear the
typical birds flying into her window and then falling down to the
grounds. But when she felt the rather coarse material of her blanket,
she began to wonder if the maids had replaced her warm, cozy and very
soft blanket with a crude one.
She sat up in the futon sleepily and rubbed at her eyes. Now did they
also move her to a different room…? Wait…a futon?
Looking around, she pushed the unfamiliar rough material off of her and
observed her surroundings. She was in a little wooden hut with a vacant
fire going in the middle of the enclosure. The bright sun was shining
in through a hole that she supposed was a window. The entrance to the
hut was simply bamboo sticks tied together and she could see it sway
around in the cool, crisp air.
Getting up from the futon, she stumbled over to the door and pushed the
bamboos aside, looking outside. Putting her hands up over her eyes to
shield herself from the blinding morning sun, she spotted Sango with a
little kid under the shade of a small tree.
A kid? Oh yea…she met Naraku yesterday…and she had saved that kid from
him. She's not home…she's traveling…
Pushing that encounter into the corners of her mind, she walked over to
the couple, yawning lightly and stretching her weary muscles. When she
got near Sango and the kid, the kid suddenly got up and jumped to
attach itself upon Kagome.
Totally surprised at this action, Kagome nearly stumbled backwards, but
just looked down at the furball that was hugging her, then over to
Sango who had an amused look on her face. Asking silently why the kid
was doing this, the only answer from Sango was a smile.
"Thanks Kagome! I thought I was done for yesterday!" the little kid
squeaked from where he had buried his head in her stomach.
"Umm…you're welcome…---" Kagome trailed off, realizing that since now,
she had always referred to him as 'the kid.'
"His name is Shippo," Sango offered from her seat under the shade.
"He's a fox demon orphan."
Kagome suddenly felt that familiar pity for anyone that had a bad life,
and picked the kitsune [fox demon] orphan up from her stomach and held
him like a mother would. "Aww, aren't you just the cutest thing?" she
cooed when she spotted his little fox tail and his childish eyes and
fangs.
"I'm not a kid!" Shippo growled, annoyance clear in his eyes, and
jumped off from Kagome's hold and puffed out his little chest in pride
when he had landed on the grass. "I'm eight years old! Very, very old!
And a verrry powerful demon!"
"Of course, Shippo," Kagome answered, smiling knowingly down at the
little cub who was now licking his paw in reflex to his animalistic
habits. "You live here?" Kagome asked, motioning over to the little hut
she had been in before.
"Yep!" he responded and then before she could ask anything else, he had
bounded off towards the beach.
Kagome smiled after him, watching him splash in the waters happily
before looking over to Sango, who was looking at her with the same
amused face as before. "What?" Kagome asked in self-consciousness.
"You must have been dead tired if you haven't noticed it…"
"What…?"
"We're next to the beach, Kagome…"
Kagome stood taut and confused for a second, before realization clicked
in her head. Joy twinkled in her eyes as she began to feel giddy.
"We're at the beach! Sango! Sango! It's the beach!" she squealed in
delight, jumping up and down while pointing at the wide expanse of
blue.
"Yea yea, go play in it if you want," Sango grinned, looking up at her
cousin who was still a child at heart.
Kagome smiled but then proceeded to sit down next to Sango, staring out
at the kid in the water and was content as to just watch the ocean.
"No…I don't want to play in it. Feeling tired you know?" Kagome
explained while just enjoying the peacefulness of being under the shade
of the tree and having the gentle sound of the ocean's waves next to
her. Curiosity hit Kagome when she stared out at Shippo who was trying
to catch a fish in the water with no success. "So…tell me about Shippo…"
Sango yawned a bit as she recollected the tale Shippo had told her
before. "Well…he told me about a month before, he had lived with his
parents who had loved him very much. One day, his parents had to go out
into the desert to look for a herb because Shippo was sick and the
remedy could only be found there. For two days, his parents hadn't
returned and Shippo began to worry and although he had an old woman in
the village nearby to watch over him, he was beginning to fret since
his parents were demons and would have found the remedy already. So he
snuck out when the old hag was sleeping and went in search of his
parents. What he had found and seen wouldn't have been appropriate for
a child his age, but he had watched as his parents got run through and
slaughtered by demons or a demon, he wasn't sure, because his sickness
gave out and he had fainted. The next day, the old hag and a few of the
villagers went in search of them, and found his parents dead and
bloody, and poor Shippo lying on top of his parents, barely alive. His
mother had the remedy clenched in her hands and the villagers took
Shippo back to save him. So now here he is…revenge in his mind and
trying to live on…" Sango trailed off as she began to feel pity for the
little child.
Kagome frowned as she asked, "Who were the murderer or murderers?"
"He doesn't know…though he said that if he saw him or her or them
again, he would know instantly," Sango answered, shrugging as a slight
breeze ruffled her hair.
"Oh…so now we have to bring him along with us huh?" Kagome asked as she
rubbed the remaining tiredness out of her eyes.
"Yea, I guess."
Kagome sighed, although it was a happy sigh since she found it much
more enjoyable to have more companions on a trip. "How far more to the
castle?"
"I asked Shippo that before. He said that we're right next to it."
Sango smiled at the shocked look on Kagome's face. "Look behind you."
Kagome obliged and looked over the tree to glance behind her, seeing a
rather huge village and a tall castle rising high up into the sky. She
turned back speechless. "Whoa…"
"Yup," Sango answered bluntly and nodded as she watched the sun shine
across the bright shore. "Looks like we're finally here."
*~*~*
Inuyasha yawned rowdily as he felt the cool draft in his room. Dragging
his body into an upright position on his bed, he gazed around his
bright room and noted that the window had been left open from his
rushed entrance through it last night. A nice ocean breeze was blowing
in and dancing with the curtains as Inuyasha yawned once again and
dragged himself off his bed and onto his own two feet.
Stretching his exhausted muscles, he didn't bother changing his clothes
as he sauntered out of his room with his hands behind his head. He was
met with half a dozen youkai maids shuffling around the corridor he was
on. Some of them were entering the spare room next to him while others
were rushing out, all of them with nervous looks on their faces.
"Hey, girl," Inuyasha greeted a rather young and pretty maid rushing by
him, and she skidded to a stop to bow before him.
"Yes, my highness?" she asked, as she continued to stare down at the
ground. It was rude to maintain eye contact with the prince.
"What's all the ruckus for?" Inuyasha questioned as he observed a
random maid rush into the room with a set of pink sheets, as another
had a vase of different flowers varying from irises, forget-me-nots,
carnations, bellflowers, to roses.
"Princess Kagome has arrived, my lordship. Please excuse me," the girl
answered and then bowed one more time, before rushing off somewhere to
get something else.
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow as he walked across the open doorway and
observed the room inside. Before, it was just a plain pink color [his
mother had always wanted a daughter, but she had landed with two sons],
but now, there was a huge bed with pink sheets, a rug and coach by the
fireplace, a table with the vase of flowers in the middle of it, and
silky white curtains that opened up to a balcony where Inuyasha was
certain he saw a swinging couch. The maids were still rushing in with
many different kinds of kimonos to fill the closet and Inuyasha looked
passively bored as he continued striding down the corridor.
He didn't need to concern himself with such trivial matters as to what
kind of room the princess would prefer. He was more concerned about
what there was to eat for breakfast, since you know, breakfast is the
most important meal of the day.
Going down the familiar steps to the dining room, Inuyasha started to
imagine all the ways the 'Princess Kagome' could look like. First, he
imagined an ugly demon with three eyeballs, but the Higurashi family
were only humans. Then he imagined her as an old hag with dirty hair
and wrinkly skin, but this Princess Kagome was younger than Kikyou, so
she couldn't be old. After that, he imagined her as a young eight year
old snotty princess who thought she was the queen of the world and had
to be respected and loved.
That third and last image seemed to be acceptable, so Inuyasha nodded
to himself as he strode casually up to the dining room and entered
through the open side doorway. His ['evil', as he liked to call them
now] father and mother looked up delighted as they heard their son
enter and Inuyasha refused to attain eye contact with them, since he
was still mad that they had never told him about the betrothal.
"Where's Princess What's-Her-Name?" Inuyasha asked stingily as he
looked around the dining room for the little girl. A faintly familiar
scent tickled his nose as Inuyasha frowned in frustration at not being
able to pinpoint where exactly he had known this smell and why it was
in this room.
A girl turned her head to look at Inuyasha while blinking in innocent
confusion, and Inuyasha realized that the princess had been in the room
all along except she was hidden behind the huge dining chair that had
its back to him.
He was about to make some nasty comment, but when their eyes were fixed
upon each other, mixed feelings he couldn't identify began to rush
through his body as he eyed the beautiful blue eyes the girl had.
Something about those eyes…
He couldn't exactly remember where he had seen those eyes…but something
about them…something he couldn't identify…was certainly causing his
body and mind to go haywire. He started to wonder if he had short-term
memory…
"Inuyasha, this is Princess Kagome," Queen Seki Komiya enthusiastically
introduced as she beamed at her son and the princess while totally
oblivious to the strain between the two. "Princess Kagome, that is my
son, Prince Inuyasha."
Kagome and Inuyasha both stared at each other for a few more seconds
before Kagome blinked, breaking the tension and whispered quietly,
"Nice to meet you, Prince Inuyasha." She coughed uncomfortably before
turning her red cheeks and gaze over to Queen Komiya. "Please, Queen
Komiya, just call me Kagome."
Queen Komiya clapped her hands and smiled over at Kagome. "If you
insist, then I'll just address you as Kagome," she answered while
motioning for Inuyasha to sit down at his usual seat at the
table---directly opposite of where Kagome was currently seated.
Inuyasha sat down quietly for the first time in many days, and looked
across at the princess who was blushing slightly and talking with his
mother. Now, he was certain, that she wasn't just some eight year old
girl. Maybe her clothes were a bit…dirty…but she certainly looked
pretty---decent enough to be of royal blood.
Grabbing a slice of toast from the plate in front of him, Inuyasha
quietly munched away at it while listening to the girl sitting opposite
of him happily chat away with his mother. She certainly seemed like any
other princess; a suck-up to the queen.
…But something about her…well, it gives off the feeling that she wasn't
trying to suck up, but this was just her getting along with people.
Blah. He hated people who were so free-spirited and happy. But…the
question was…how come he couldn't seem to feel hatred for this
particular girl?
What made her so special, that he couldn't feel much loathing towards
her, even if she was the person that was deciding his fate for the rest
of his life?
Inuyasha was confused as he scowled softly to himself. But oh well, who
said that his own thoughts had to make sense?
Inuyasha shrugged to himself and was reaching in for some bacons and
eggs when there was a loud shriek of horror from the corridors,
followed by a loud "HENTAI!" and a piercing slap. Inuyasha rubbed his
temples as he put the eggs and bacon on his plate and watched from the
corner of his eyes as Miroku dejectedly entered the room while a gloomy
expression was upon his frowning face.
Inuyasha peered over to the girl on the other side of the table as she
blinked confusedly at the man who had just shuffled into the room and
sat down next to Inuyasha with a melancholy 'plop!' He sighed deeply
and looked down at his lap with a depressed pout on his face.
"Nice try, Miroku. Nice try," Inuyasha teased from his spot and shook
his head in fake misery for his cousin.
"What is wrong with me…that most women in this castle seems to never
want to get near me? Much?" Miroku questioned no one in particular.
"Ugly…" Inuyasha coughed, and could hear giggling from across the
table.
Miroku, who also heard the giggle, looked up from his hands where he
had been doing self-pity, and saw Kagome for the first time. She was
smiling lightly at him with a sweat drop on her head as she eyed the
red and evidently pulsing handprint on Miroku's cheeks.
"Hello pretty lady," Miroku greeted with a huge scary smile on his
face. There were three sighs belonging to King Komiya, Queen Komiya and
Inuyasha who all just continued on with their breakfast as they ignored
the request that they had seen Miroku perform to every single girl he
had met in his lifetime.
"Hello…" Kagome answered in self-consciousness as the smile got bigger.
"Will you bear my child?" he asked as he dug through his pockets for a
ring. Kagome's eye started to twitch on impulse. "Here it is!" Miroku
exclaimed happily as he whipped out the ring that had been lost.
The ring went flying out of his hand and tumbled under the table and
Miroku bent down on reflex to pick it up. The same moment Miroku
disappeared under in search of the ring, Sango and Shippo walked into
the room with blissful smiles on their faces.
"Good morning King Komiya, Queen Komiya," Sango greeted and took her
seat next to Kagome, bowing her head to Prince Inuyasha who just
grunted in return with bacon stuffed in his mouth.
"Did you like your room?" Queen Komiya asked good-naturedly and
motioned for Sango to start eating. "Was it pretty enough?"
Taking a slice of toast, Sango nodded in response. "Oh yes. I liked it
very much. It was---"
Interrupting Sango, Miroku whisked his body up from under the table and
sat back down in his chair with a plop. Patting his messed hair back
down, he declared "found it!" and looked up from the ring on his hand.
Moment of tension.
"It's you!" Sango and Miroku both yelled when they eyed each other,
pointing fingers accusingly. Raised eyebrows were ensued as everyone
else around the table looked at the couple.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Sango demanded as her eyebrows
lowered into an annoyed frown.
"I LIVE here!" Miroku answered back with a more aggravated than annoyed
frown.
"Nice one, Miroku! Like a traveling perverted 'monk' would live in a
castle! And if it so happens, I have permission to be here!"
"There's no evil demons in this castle for you to exterminate, Sango,"
Miroku answered with an infuriated tone in his voice. "And I happen to
be a prince. Not a 'perverted monk' like you put it. And just to tell
you, it's a 'purifying monk.' Not perverted."
Sango's frown got deeper and she turned her attention over to the
queen. "Is he really a prince?" she questioned in skepticism while
keeping an eye on Miroku's hands and making sure they wouldn't extend
over the table and grab her.
Queen Komiya sighed severely and looked over to Sango with an
apologetic look on her face. "Yes. Miroku is a prince. Not exactly my
prince, but a prince nonetheless. He dresses up as a monk whenever he
wants to explore the lands."
Kagome raised a verrry interested eyebrow as she realized that what
Miroku did was extremely similar to what a certain cousin of hers did
too. But by the looks of it, they had met each other on not the most
wonderful occasions.
Sango looked back over at Miroku with her mouth opened in disbelief,
before she started to groan in frustration. "I can't believe this!!"
she growled and fixed her death glare upon the smug prince across from
her. "How could YOU be a prince of all people!?"
"We're still pondering that question," Inuyasha added in and continued
on with his breakfast.
"It's because I am special, you know?" Miroku answered, ignoring what
Inuyasha had just said, and beamed across at Sango, who looked like she
was about to bite the head off of Miroku. "But since you know I am a
prince and I have a right to be here, why are you, a demon
exterminator, inside a castle that has nothing to exterminate?"
Kagome looked confused for a second before she said, "but Sango isn't
really a de---"
Sango intervened and shouted, "because I am Kagome's personal bodyguard
now! So I have a right to be here as much as you do."
Kagome looked over at Sango with more confusion, but she got a silent
quieting finger from under the table. She nodded in understanding and
continued eating her breakfast like Inuyasha was doing and gave the
quieting finger to the king and queen too, who both stayed muted as
well.
Miroku whistled in amazement. "Demon exterminator to personal
bodyguard, eh? You never cease to surprise me with your talents,
Sango."
Sango smiled in fake exhilaration in return as she clenched the table
cloth angrily from underneath the table. "And you never cease to shock
me with your copious amount of lechery," she retorted.
Miroku twitched at the comment. "I prefer to call it my hobby," he
responded distinctively and looked away from Sango.
Sango nodded with mock iced all over her features and proceeded to
ignore Miroku and eat her breakfast. Miroku sighed unknowingly to
himself and reached in for the last piece of bacon when another fork
reached for it on the other end.
Another moment of tension.
Electricity filled with much strain went flying between Sango and
Miroku as they fought for the last piece of bacon.
While this was happening, Shippo hopped off from his perch on the chair
next to Sango and hopped back onto Kagome's lap. "Isn't Sango a
princess?" he whispered.
"Ssh," Kagome quieted the little kistune and looked at Miroku to make
sure he was still fighting for the bacon. "Sango is a princess, but you
MUST NOT tell Miroku or anyone that she is one, okay?"
"Why?" Shippo asked in childish curiosity and blinked up at Kagome.
"Umm…it's like a…game. You have to keep her identity a secret from
everyone as long as you can. If you can, I'll give you candy in the
end, okay?" Kagome bargained and Shippo nodded in enthusiasm.
"Okay, but can you do something for me?" Shippo asked.
"Sure. What?"
"Can you feed me? I can't reach the food by myself," Shippo explained
and smiled up at Kagome with big sparkly eyes while wagging his tail.
Who could resist the kawaiiness?
Kagome smiled and got a small piece of egg and fed Shippo with her own
fork, while ignoring the curses from both Sango and Miroku who both
wouldn't let the other have the bacon.
Inuyasha from across the table, eyed Kagome feeding the kitsune on her
lap and he could feel a sensation creeping up. What was it? He frowned
when he couldn't identify the emotion. It made him hate that little
brat on Kagome's lap, and it gave him a mad bubbly feeling inside of
him. Hmm…
Pushing the emotion aside, he continued eating his food while watching
Miroku's fork fly across the room and Sango winning the bacon. Miroku
tipped over on his chair from the momentum and fell down to the ground.
Everyone ignored this as they continued chatting or eating away,
overlooking the fact that anything weird had happened. Sango was
happily munching on her piece of bacon while smiling at her victory.
Inuyasha felt like he could chuckle.
Doesn't look like breakfast would ever be normal again...
***
A/N: Well, next chapter --- Future Fate