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Behind the Masquerade
Future Fate
Kagome could be found wearing a pretty kimono and swinging lightly on the couch on the balcony of her room. It was a lovely little swinging couch, intertwined with flowers and ivy creeping up along the sides. It had a very comfortable cushion to sit on and she sure wouldn't mind having one of these back home. In her opinion, her room back there was about as exciting as an empty cardboard box.
Kagome sighed drearily.
So this was the castle Kikyou was going to live in? A place filled with
happy people and nice servants and a beach just outside?
Kikyou sure wouldn't enjoy this place.
Kagome shook her head gently. Kikyou's idea of a perfect kingdom would
probably be a place where she was obeyed without complaint and she
would be the ultimate law. Servants would wait on her on hands and feet
and everyone would be as loyal to her as a dog. The castle would
probably be dark and evil though, since Kikyou was no doubt, a dark
person. Deep down inside, under all the personalities Kikyou put up on
the outside, Kagome knew that Kikyou was a very deceptive person. Sure
her sister could be annoying at times, and sometimes even act like
she's all that, but she hadn't always been like that…
Naraku had changed her. Like Naraku had changed Kagome's life. In fact,
he had caused a big impact on both sisters' lives. Before Kikyou or
Kagome had met that evil slime ball, Kikyou had been a very refined and
if Kagome dare say, mature girl, but ever since Kikyou's encounter with
Naraku…she had started acting …different.
Kagome tapped her chin thoughtfully. All the disguise that Kikyou put
up certainly couldn't get past Kagome, since after all, they were
sisters. There was bound to be some sisterly bond in there somewhere.
Naraku had done his foul deeds upon Kagome, and had impacted her life
thoroughly, but she wondered what Naraku could have done to Kikyou to
make her sister change so immensely.
Before Naraku, Kikyou usually ignored Kagome, and both sisters were
still not on good terms, even if they never talked to each other.
Kikyou had left Kagome in the shadows, always more perfect than the
younger girl. Kagome always called her 'the evil weasel' back then, but
after Kikyou changed…well, Kikyou seemed to finally acknowledge that
Kagome did actually exist and would blame Kagome for every single thing
wrong.
Sometimes, Kagome pondered whether the old Kikyou was better than the
new Kikyou. At least back then, Kikyou didn't know she existed and
wouldn't rag on her for everything. But she still didn't really like
Kikyou either way, no matter if she was the old Kikyou or the new
Kikyou. Kikyou HAD been one of the people working alongside Naraku to
make her life a miserable dump, even if Kikyou had gotten hurt in the
end by Naraku too.
But how had Naraku hurt Kikyou to make her change so much? …Hmm…
Kagome sighed with a resigned look on her face as she realized that she
had just contemplated the same thoughts that she had reflected upon for
the last year or so. It wasn't like she'd get a answer out of thin air,
so why bother?
Snapping her fingers, she stood up and looked determined as she eyed
the wide expanse of blue stretching before her very eyes. Naraku
wouldn't bring her down. Once she found what he wanted her to get for
him, then all their bonds would be broken and she would go on with her
life. "For the next month, I swear I will do my job which is to find
out if Inuyasha is a suitable suitor for Kikyou and I will not dread
upon my messed up life back home with my parents."
Turning around, she stopped and added, "And oh yes! I must find the
Shikon no Tama thing." Shrugging, Kagome decided that she had better
start looking for that Shikon no Tama before her one month was up and
Shippo would go bye-bye.
Walking out her door, she closed it lightly behind her and walked
towards the library. Sure she had to look for the Shikon no Tama, but
she had to research on the thing first, right? If Naraku wanted it, it
sure wouldn't be just some regular object. She would make sure nothing
wrong or destructive would land in the hands of the replica of Satan,
or she might be risking harm to innocent lives, and she wouldn't want
that.
Walking down the corridor, she realized that she was just meandering
aimlessly to nowhere. She didn't exactly know where the library
was…so…asking for directions like a tourist would be the next best
thing to winging it and ending up in the dungeons.
Strolling back the way she had come, she went past her room to the one
next to hers. She had recalled Queen Komiya telling her that Prince
Inuyasha's room was right next to hers and if she ever needed help,
then she could just knock on his door and ask. Either by the door
adjoining their two rooms or the main door, she could choose. Kagome
also remembered Queen Komiya telling her that if Inuyasha was being a
stubborn guy and refused to help, then the next best thing would be
Miroku down the corridor.
Kagome didn't like the prospect of asking Miroku for help. Sure, he
LOOKED like a harmless perverted guy, but appearances could be
deceiving. Inside, he could be some evil rapist that dragged girls into
his room and Kagome was sure she wouldn't want to be one of the
victims.
She took in a deep breath and knocked…only to find that the door wasn't
locked. It squeaked open from the impact of the thud and light from the
inside shone out at her. Sticking her head into the room and looking
around, she realized that the room was empty.
No Prince Inuyasha.
Ambling inside out of pure curiosity, Kagome sniffed and wiggled her
nose as a scent overwhelmed her. It seemed so familiar, yet so foreign
at the same time…where had she smelt it before?
Shaking her head and dismissing her thoughts to the fact that it was
the result of her weary traveling, she looked around the big room and
spotted what seemed like a mask poking out from one of the drawers. It
seemed to draw her towards it with an unseen force and Kagome could
feel her natural curiosity begin to take over again. Inching towards
it, she reached out in inquisitiveness and was about to pull the mask
out of its place, when a door slamming caused her to jump and let go of
the mask. It slipped deeper into the drawer and out of view.
Turning around quickly, she saw Prince Inuyasha frowning at her from
where he was leaning against the closed door and tapping his claws
against the wood. He didn't look like the happy little puppy to her…
"What are you doing here!?" she asked before she had time to think
about what she had just blurted out and what the situation was.
"This happens to be my room," he answered flatly and rolled his
eyes at
the blush that was creeping onto Kagome's face at being discovered in
his room uninvited. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you, what are you
doing here? Snooping around my processions, eh?"
Kagome looked at him sheepishly . "Sorry, I was just curious," she
apologized and was about to make her way to the door in shame, but it
didn't seem like Inuyasha would get his weight off the door to let her
through.
"Curious about what?" Inuyasha pressed on as he ignored the girl's
feeble attempt to force open the door while his hanyou weight was upon
it.
"Curious. About. That. Mask. In. Your. Drawer." She sounded out every
word with every useless pull on the doorknob.
"What's so curious about a mask? It's just a mask. Plus, if you keep
pulling on the doorknob like that, you'll give yourself a hernia,"
Inuyasha reasoned and got off the door, causing the door to fling open
suddenly and making Kagome fly backwards from her yanking momentum. She
tumbled to the ground in a mess.
"That wasn't very nice!" she grumbled angrily from the carpet and
looked up at the prince in annoyance.
"That's what you get for going into someone's room uninvited," he
retorted and had a smug look on his face as he extended a hand down to
help the girl get up. He watched as she ignored the hand and got up
from the carpet and dusted herself off on her own.
"I did say sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it."
Kagome rolled her eyes a bit. Kikyou would have hot competition for
most stubborn this year…
"Well, Prince Inuyasha, I'm sorry I intruded upon your personal space
and went through your personal processions. I will make myself a
useless speck if you could just give me directions to the library,"
Kagome answered with a dignified tone in her voice, observing Inuyasha
with an unreadable expression in her eyes.
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her request. This girl sure had layers to
herself…"Down this corridor, down the stairs to the floor below us, go
up the corridor, take a right and then take a left at the end," he
directed and watched her trying to remember all that information.
"Umm…okay…" she said slowly and made her way through the open door with
a perplexed look on her face. "Thank you…" she muttered as an
afterthought.
Inuyasha closed the door after she had walked out and then leant back
upon the door again. He tapped his chin thoughtfully as he eyed the
barely open drawer Kagome had been looking around in before.
Walking over to it, he opened the drawer and took out the mask he had
worn at the masquerade. Any other time, he would have already thrown
away the mask, but he couldn't seem to throw away this one. It kind of
always reminded him of that one girl he met at the masquerade, not that
he even knew her name, but it seemed that keeping it would remind him
of her.
Her eyes always stood out whenever he thought of her…such a stunning
blue color. It kind of reminded him of Kagome's…but blue eyes weren't
that uncommon, and he was sure that the girl had much more grace than
that Princess Kagome anyway.
Shrugging to himself, Inuyasha put the mask back in the drawer and
walked to his balcony. It was highly doubtful that they would actually
meet ever again, at least not in a few years, so thinking about her was
not good. It wasn't like she could complete the part of his heart that
he had given away and lost anyway…
He gently traced the scar on his back with his fingers and looked out
at the ocean, watching the waves run in to blend with the sand. Time
went by so fast…
*~*~*
Kagome frowned a bit as she searched through the high column of the
books on the shelf. She was on the very top end of the ladder and let's
just say that she would be happier with her feet put down firmly on the
ground. Why did all those important books seem to be situated at the
top end of every shelf?
Seeing a very interesting book with what looked like a hole in the
spine, she grabbed a hold of it and tried to pull it out. Looks like
someone definitely needed to clean up the top row because it was filled
with dust and the books were probably glued to the shelf from old age.
She gave up when the book didn't even wedge out a bit and she had
already did everything possible to take it out; it was probably really
old and stuck to the shelf anyway.
Looking at the book next to the jammed one, she took it out and began
leafing through the pages. This would officially be the twentieth book
she looked through if she didn't find anything. How hard was it to find
something on a Shikon no Tama? Gazing to the index, she looked for
Shikon and to her surprise, it was actually there.
"Finally!" she yelled in victory to no one in the seemingly empty room.
Then she began her descend down the ladder by going down with one hand
while the other was occupied with the book. It wasn't an easy
task…especially when you're reading the book too.
"The Shikon no Tama, Jewel of Four Souls, is an ancient jewel---" she
was reading when she missed a step on her way down. She started
screaming and flailing her hands around hopelessly when both hands lost
contact with the ladder bars. She closed her eyes tightly as she felt
the short rush of air engulf her and she was dragged down by gravity.
She was sure she would have a rough and painful landing on the ground,
but to her surprise, she landed on soft flesh and arms had been
extended out to catch her. Blinking one eye open, she realized that
someone had caught her and that she was only mere inches away from the
ground.
She was lowered and she turned around to thank her savior. Her eyes
blinked in surprise when she saw who her savior actually was.
"Are you okay?" he asked in concern.
"Very much. Thank you for catching me King Komiya," she said and smiled
up at the King. [ bet you all thought it was Inuyasha ;) ]
"You're welcome, Kagome. Just be careful okay? Don't want you to get
injured here and have your parents blame us," he answered pleasantly
and handed the book on the floor to her.
"Oh…they wouldn't care. They'd say I was clumsy or something and should
be more like Kikyou," Kagome answered frankly because she remembered
that something like this incident had happened at her own castle and
her parents had blamed her for making the books fall. She didn't think
they noticed that she had a twisted ankle…
"No, don't say that. Of course they care. Look at how they treat
Kikyou."
"Because Kikyou is perfect and wouldn't fall off a ladder like I would.
Everyone loves Kikyou. Maybe I should really be another Kikyou…"
"Everyone has their differences, Kagome. You are you, so stop comparing
yourself to your sister, okay? You don't need to be Kikyou to be loved
by anyone" King Komiya reasoned and watched the girl look mystified for
a second.
"I…guess…" Kagome answered slowly, not used to someone telling her to
be herself. If she had said something remotely close to becoming a
second Kikyou around her own home, her parents would be ecstatic and
probably throw a party. Oh the joys of being the younger one…
"Well anyway, Seki wanted to see you," King Komiya announced,
remembering what message his wife had told him to tell Kagome if he saw
her.
"Seki?" Kagome asked, since she had never known the queen's name.
"Lady Komiya. Take a right from where you had come, take another right
and go straight down that corridor. Her room is the one with rose
carvings all over it."
"Oh, okay. Thank you!" Kagome answered and bowed lightly, before
grabbing her book with her and making her exit.
The King watched the girl depart and smiled to himself. "Sure wouldn't
mind having her as the daughter-in-law instead…" he whispered to
himself. "I hope her sister is like that too…although…well, it didn't
seem like it when I first met her. Oh well, if the younger one is that
nice, then the older one must be too…"
*~*~*
Kagome knocked on the door and entered when she was greeted with an
enthusiastic "come in!" from inside. She went within and saw that the
Queen was on the balcony, happily making bouquets of flowers. Walking
past the Queen's and King's bed, she spotted some baby clothes half way
being knitted and her left eyebrow started ticking. The Queen must want
some grandchildren already…
"Hello Kagome," Lady Komiya greeted merrily and patted on the chair
next to her, indicating Kagome to sit down there. "It's a really nice
day today."
"Good afternoon Lady Komiya. The sky sure is a beautiful blue today,"
Kagome agreed as she observed the bright blue sky above. "Why did you
ask me to come here?"
Lady Komiya put down the roses she had been putting in her bouquet and
turned to face Kagome with a serious expression on her face. "I wanted
to ask, do you personally think Kikyou would make a good wife for
Inuyasha? And take time to think dear. I want your personal opinion
here."
Kagome looked reflective for a second before she started counting
things off her finger. "If you really want my personal opinion,
then…One, they are certainly both stubborn enough. Two, it seems they
both have the talent of getting me annoyed. Three, they might drive
each other insane…" Some more thinking. "But personally, I don't know
Inuyasha well enough to actually decide yet," she answered and gave the
Queen an apologetic look.
Lady Komiya nodded in understanding as she picked up her roses again
and started to put it into the bouquet. Kagome looked nervous for a
moment as she wondered if she should dismiss herself or whether the
Queen wanted her to stay. It was almost a minute of silence between the
two and Kagome was seriously debating whether to just get up and leave
or not.
"Kagome." It was more of a demand than a question from the Queen
suddenly, that nearly caused Kagome to jump out of her skin.
"Yes?" Kagome asked uncertainly as she watched the older woman work
wonders with the bouquet.
"How would you describe a rose?"
Kagome blinked owlishly at the strange question, but smiled a bit as
she answered. "I think a rose is a symbol for someone's feelings,
whether it be hatred, pain, friendship or love. It's beauty indicates
the friendship and love, but every rose has its thorns and that
represents the hatred and pain."
Lady Komiya nodded once more and frowned a bit at Kagome's explanation.
"You find a deep meaning in such a small object."
Kagome wasn't sure about how to answer to that compliment, if it was
one.
"Well," Lady Komiya began and looked back up at Kagome smiling. "You
can go now if you want, I've kept you here longer than I was suppose to
anyway. Why don't you go look around in the gardens or something, or
maybe go out to the beach? There's a lot of things to do." She eyed the
dirt on Kagome's flesh and sweat dropped. "Maybe take a bath too…"
Kagome blushed when she looked down and saw all the dirt clinging to
her body. She better go take the Queen's advice and take a bath…she
looked like she had just crawled out from a mud bank or something.
"Where's the bath?" Kagome inquired nicely.
"Go down two stairs and you should find the kitchens, laundry room and
all that other stuff. Keep on going down the corridor and you should
find the royal bathroom easily enough," the Queen answered and smiled
at Kagome when the princess bowed.
"Thank you," Kagome answered and went on her way quickly, eager to get
the grime off of herself.
"Make sure nobody is in the bath though!" Lady Komiya yelled after the
girl who looked like she was sprinting up the corridors. Lady Komiya
sighed when she realized the girl was probably too intent on taking a
bath to have noticed her last sentence.
Watching the open doorway for a few minutes, she suddenly saw her son
walk past outside like he didn't have a care in the world and she
yelled after him. "Where are you going Inuyasha!?"
"Bath," a faint voice down the corridor answered back.
"Wait! Inuyasha! Kagome is taking one!" she yelled out but there was no
response. "Oh dear…" she mumbled when she realized what this incident
could bring along. "Children these days…never listen."
Sighing to herself, she went back to finding the perfect spot to put
the roses. Not like she wanted to go running down two stairs, screaming
after her son to not go into the bath because Kagome was in there.
Kagome probably had enough sense to close the door behind her and
Inuyasha probably had the intellect to not go into a bathroom with a
closed door. Hopefully, Inuyasha was going to the other bath upstairs
on his own corridor or something. Oh well.
*~*~*
Kagome watched the steam rise slowly from the so-called 'bathtub.'
Actually, don't call it a bathtub. It was more like a huge swimming
pool with bubbles floating everywhere and steam coming out like mist.
She closed the sliding door lightly behind her and walked over to bend
down next to the bathtub, her wooden clogs making a clack-clack sound
on the tiles. Feeling the water temperature with her finger, she found
that the water was a bit hot but would feel just right on her skin.
Mist overflowed to blanket out over the floor like she was walking on a
cloud and the room felt all clammy and damp. She could see the room a
bit, mostly seeing the outline of the bathtub and the covers at which
you could take off your clothes, but it was mostly obscured by the
steam. Kagome could only imagine having a bathtub like this at home!
This was a bathtub owned by Kikyou back there and this would officially
be the first time she took a bath in such a luxurious bathtub.
Not really feeling the need of changing behind one of those wooden
covers [sorry, I don't know the name of them], she stood up and undid
the obi around her kimono.
Putting the obi on top of the cover, she slipped the material off her
shoulders and half way down her body, when who should decide to barge
into a bathroom while the door was closed, but Inuyasha.
The slamming of the sliding door and the sudden rush of cold air upon
her back caused Kagome to turn around rather swiftly and stare at what
the intrusion was. When she turned around and made eye contact with
Inuyasha, there was only one word to describe the whole condition.
Horror.
Her eyes went wide in dismay when she realized what her current
situation was and her heart nearly stopped beating in her bare chest.
She was actually standing half naked in a bathroom with a Prince
staring right at her! Worst of all, she felt like she couldn't move!
But watching his gaze flicker to a place…lower than her neck, Kagome's
conscious came back and she started screaming for all she was worth,
quickly slipping the kimono back over her shoulder. Using one hand as a
substitute for the obi which she didn't have time to put back on, she
bent down and took off one of the bathroom wooden clogs she was wearing
and threw it straight at Inuyasha's head.
Inuyasha, who looked like he was frozen in shock, couldn't move a
muscle in his body until the clog actually connected with his head and
the pain had thoroughly started spreading through his skull. He fell
down onto the ground on his butt and started moving backwards at a
rapid pace with bulging eyes, seeing that Kagome had started grabbing
onto various other objects and was throwing them at him blindly.
"Hentai! Hentai!! Hentai! Hentai! HENTAI!" Kagome screamed over and
over until Inuyasha had managed to crawl his way outside and closed the
door with a huge bang.
Breathing heavily, Kagome grabbed her obi and quickly tied it around
her small waist. Spotting the thick stick that the servants used to
stir up the bubbles in the bathtub, she ran over to it, [without her
wooden clogs…she had already used both to throw at Inuyasha…] she
grabbed it and walked over to swing the door open with a murderous
force.
Inuyasha, who was sprawled tiredly over the ground outside, didn't need
a second bidding when he spied the stick…no…club…that Kagome was
holding, to get up and start running for his life.
"Oh shit!" was the last thing heard.
***
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