Disclaimer/Song: Hello, again! I hope these comments aren't annoying, but everybody seems to write them. Anyway, I want to thank my reviewers for giving me great comments. KEEP READING, PLEASE.
Chapter 2: The Growing Love
KAGOME IS DONE WITH HER GARDENING
Kagome: (Talking to no one in particular) Oh my back! (Crick!) Oh now I've done it. Humph. I was going to ditch that weird Inu guy, but…I'm feeling a little sorry for him. I've heard Prince Sesshoumaru was a bad bean. Spoiled, too. Well, he'd be here any minute now.
KAGOME HEARS SOMEONE WHISTLISTING IN THE DISTANCE
Inu: Milady! How RAVISHING! Look, dear me, you even have face paint (make-up), you sly fox!
Kagome: Face paint? I've never worn face paint in my life!
Inu: Oh…surely you know I'm joking, Kagome? I meant the dirt on your face!
Kagome: Oh…(starts blushing)
INU QUICKLY WIPES HER FACE WITH HIS CRISP, WHITE HANDKERCHIEF
Inu: You know, Kagome…I've been thinking. How'd ya like to go with me to the ball the next new moon?
Kagome: The next new moon? That's about…a week away, isn't it?
Inu: 9 days.
Kagome: Oh… well, I suppose it would do no harm if I went with you.
Inu: Great! (Mischievously grinning) I wonder what you would wear. Wearing something low-cut? Or… something above the knees?
Kagome: Pervert! Sit!
Inu: AAAGGGHH! (THUD! BOOM! CRASH! THUNK!) Ugh… my arm…
Kagome: (worried) Inu! Are you okay? OMG, I-I did not want this to happen. Inu? C-Can you hear me?
Inu: (Groans) I think… I'm in some kind of ditch, but I'm not sure. Wait… wait a minute! I recognize this room.
Kagome: Inu? What's going on? What do you recognize?
Inu: Nothing, nothing. But Kagome, I need you to do me a favor. You're pretty strong, so I think you can help me.
Kagome: Okay. So what do I do?
Inu: Uh… let's see. First we're going to hide this ditch. There's a huge board in the Lumber Pile, so I'll haul one while you make a net that would make a nice cover on the board, okay?
Kagome: Okay.
Inu: Right. Then we're going to scatter leaves and grasses all over it… and… we keep this ditch a secret, and I mean SECRET, Kagome. No kid's pinky promise kind of thing.
Kagome: (Looking unsure, but, what the heck? Who's there to tell anyway?) Okay.
Inu: (thinking) CUTE.
Kagome: Well? What are you doing?
Inu: Oh right, right. I'll be back in a flash.
Kagome: (thinking) WOW. HIS HAIR MAKES HIM LOOK REALLY CUTE CARESSING HIS FACE LIKE THAT. (Out loud) Ugh, what am I thinking?
30 MINUTES LATER…
Inu: This board was the biggest I could find in that pile. Lucky for me termites didn't get it before I did, eh?
Kagome: (grinning) Well, Inu. I'm done with the net. Lay the board and I'll put the masterpiece over it.
Inu: Right. And then we can go on our date.
Kagome: (with a frown) I don't know. It's pretty late, you know? I'll have to go home as soon as I can.
Inu: (sighs) I guess we'll go on our date on our Weekly Day Off.
The Weekly Day Off is on Sunday, when everybody gets a chance to practice his or her religion, take a break, or hang out with friends. Here, Kagome and Inu are both Buddhists.
Kagome: I guess we can meet at 2 in the afternoon. Does that sound all right to you?
Inu: Yeah. That'd be great. See you tomorrow, Kagome.
WHILE THE TWO DEPART, A DARK FIGURE STIRRS FROM A WINDOW IN THE CASTLE.
THE NEXT DAY AFTER KAGOME'S SHIFT
Kagome: (sighs) My back will be as twisted as these Yorkshire vines soon.
Inu: (pleasantly greeting Kagome) Ah! Good afternoon, milady.
Kagome: Hello, Inu. I haven't slept a wink last night, you know. I want to know more about your secret... and you.
Inu: So do I, so do I.
Kagome: Inu, I want to know how you came to be Prince Sesshoumaru's security guard?
Inu: (shuffles his feet uncomfortably) Well, my grandfather was the King's father's… uh, advisor. You'd probably think that King Naraku's father, King Onigumo, was a better ruler than the King Himself. (Snorts) King Onigumo was a dim wit, a klutz, a mistake! He never made a single decision without asking someone else for help! Ha! But King Onigumo… at least he was a gentle person. Now, if you take King Naraku, mix him with an angel, what do you get? A demon with wings! (Whispering) Personally, I do think King Naraku is a demon. Anyway, my grandfather met my grandmother at a rabbit hunt. While my grandfather was aiming his arrow at a rabbit, he heard something move in the bushes next to it. Of course, my grandfather was only 18, so he shot at the bushes, thinking it was a rabbit. But when he heard a gasp, he knew right away what he'd done and went to help his unfortunate victim. That was my grandmother. She was beautiful; at least that was what my grandfather said. She had long, dark hair and a creamy-white skin. Her eyes were sharp, curious, and intelligent, and she had a nice, curvy figure. I believe he said that he fell in love with her the first time he laid his eyes on her… After that, my grandfather married my grandmother, and their first child was my father. My father? Yeah, he's a complete nutcase, as cruel to my mother as… uh King Naraku is to his wife. My father drinks and he slaps my mother and me because he thinks my being born was the worst mistake my mother made. My father despises me, and I hate him too. My mother still loves him, though. (Sighs) Whenever my father is drunk, she takes care of him, even though he beats her to stop touching him. He doesn't even want his own wife touching him. My father keeps avoiding me as much as he can, but he can't do anything to me in public. Oh, did I tell you about my brother?
KAGOME SHAKES HER HEAD
Inu: No? Well I'll tell ya. That bastard is a loser, a younger version of my father if you'd like it, but he's much more than that. Of course he has silver hair like me… but that's all that we have in common. You see, Sess… ah, Semaru… he's a lunatic. Ever since I could remember, Semaru loved to torture and kill things. He feeds his pup eyeballs, feet, human fingers, ears, and all that sort of thing. And to him, I'm a toy. He beat me when he feels like it, and I never told on him. Of course, when my mother found out, she scolded Semaru. She even slapped him, to my joy. My father thought of this as child abuse… not even thinking that my mother and I were considered part of his family. Even though he beat me himself, my father cares only for Semaru. My father yelled at her, he abused her; he did everything unimaginably terrible to my mother. And while I watched helplessly, my brother started sniggering behind me. He laughed at our mother, OUR MOTHER being beaten by that bastard called my father. To top it all off, Semaru joined in with my father. After their… their "joyous" beating, I ran to my mother, who collapsed into a heap on the floor. I ran as fast as my 8-year old legs could carry me, but it seemed to take a whole year just to even reach my mother. She cried painfully when I put her head on my lap. Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth and from her forehead. I couldn't bear it, and my mother just died. She died, but there was one thing she said to me that I would never forget… She said, "Inu… when all seems lost… go… go to the room and hide… you understand? Hide, and don't go out until…until…"
TEARS WERE SPILLING OUT OF INU'S EYES
Kagome: Inu…
Inu: No, I want to finish my story. Just listen.
Kagome: Okay…
Inu: My mother had a burial the next day. While I was dressed in my black mourning clothes, I went outside to the gardens… the very one where you work at. I was walking around, feeling the sun warm up my face. And then I fell into that ditch. I was scared, but it didn't matter. I remembered that that was the ditch I used to hide in from my father. When my father was really drunk, he tried to kill me, so my mother told me about a ditch she used to go to. I wanted to protect her, but… I was too small and so scared. She gave me the directions with pleading eyes, and then I understood. I would not let my mother down because if I did… then I would be failing both of us.
INU STEALS A GLANCE AT KAGOME.
Kagome: Inu, I think I underestimated you. You seem to be a carefree person with no intelligence at all. But I guess that that's how you want to look, right?
Inu: (Glaring) Hey…
Kagome: Well, the least you earned is a story from me.
Inu: What? You didn't tell me a story!
Kagome: I'm going to…
Inu: Oh, okay.
Kagome: Um… well… my father was a handsome man in his early 20s. Well, he was a noble, rich and everything, and my mother met him when she was 19. My mother didn't plan to get married, but she met my father on that day King Naraku married the Queen.
AT THIS, INU INVOLUNTARILY GULPED.
Kagome: Yes?
Inu: Exactly, uh, how did your mother meet your father?
Kagome: Oh, when she had a crush on him and kept making excuses for seeing him, but my father didn't take notice of her. But one day, she was very tired and didn't see my father walking towards her. They bumped into each other, and my father noticed her for the first time. My mother was very nervous, so she stood up very quickly, and they accidentally kissed. My father had an impulse to keep his arms around her, so he did. My mother kissed him, and he kissed her back. I heard that my father was yelled at for kissing my mother, a servant girl, so he kicked both of them out of the house. My grandfather treated my father like a servant, making him work hard on our own grounds, but my father said he was happy. My parents had me then Souta, and then my father died in a landslide. My mother was sad, but she worked twice as hard for my brother and I, so now we live in a small hut. And we're not poor, if that's what you're thinking.
Inu: Oh no, that's not what I was thinking.
Kagome: Good, because I don't want you to look down at me.
Inu: Now why would I do that? You're the prettiest girl I've ever met.
Kagome: (blushing furiously) Really? I mean, it's… it's… um…
INU GRABS KAGOME AND KISSES HER. KAGOME HUGS INU TIGHTLY AROUND HIS NECK.
Inu: I love you, Kagome.
Kagome: (whispers) I love you, too, Inu. I just wish I belonged to a different rank. We're already 3 rank marks apart. I wish I could marry you, Inu. You're most definitely different than the village boys. They think they're the best men around, but you're so honest and I feel very comfortable around you. (Sighs) Inu, I wish we could have met in another way.
Inu: (Angry) What?!? What do you mean in another way!? I like meeting you this way.
Kagome: You know that's not what I meant.
Inu: No, I know what you meant. But think… if you and I met on an arranged marriage, we wouldn't be in love in the first place. And I wouldn't have wanted to meet you because I hate arranged marriages.
Kagome: No, no, Inu! I meant of different rank-
Inu: You know what Kagome? Let's forget about it. I just want to marry you, and I will.
Kagome: Oh my, I think we're going too fast aren't we?
Inu: Hey it's better than marrying someone I don't know, okay?
Kagome: (blushes prettily) Okay Inu.
Inu: All right, I'll see you at our date.
INU KISSES KAGOME WARMLY ON HER LIPS.
Song: So, is it good? I hope so… I really enjoyed reading your reviews. Thank you for your compliments Inut and Nameless Priestess (thanks for the advice, I tried using the sit and my chapters are longer!) Hope everybody continues reading my story and please review! Arigaddo gojaimasse ne!