Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and various companies. ^_^
A Lady Knight's Tale 2
Sango looked up at the sky dejectedly. This was no day to be traveling, but she had to go, preferably some place far away from...Miroku. It seemed like she had been journeying for days. The landscape was unfamiliar, despite her knowledge of nearly the entire countryside. And it was raining, the sky was dark with nimbus clouds, and large drops of rain splattered over the trees and dead leaves, making a sound like crumpling paper. Her armor kept her dry however, and she had no intention of turning back now.
I wonder what he's doing now? Probably canvassing for a new bride...she sighed. The thought of exactly what made her even more depressed. Why did she ever leave...?The rain was getting stronger. She had to find some shelter quickly or poor Kirara would be in even worse shape than she already was.
"Whoa, Kirara!" The horse whinnied as lighting struck and thunder rumbled in a distance. Sango hugged the horse and patted her in an attempt to calm the panicked horse.
Then lightning struck again, along with a burning sulphur smell, and it was much closer this time. Sango had no time to even try to calm Kirara down. The horse simply bolted off in whatever direction pleased her, Sango hanging on for dear life.
It was then that Kirara slipped and fell into a ravine bringing her rider along with her.
"What do you mean she left?" Miroku demanded. He had heard that Sango had been last seen leaving the castle. The men simply stared at him blankly, they were in the middle of a card game when the captain barged in.
"Well, sir, she just passed us without taking anyone's leave." One of them finally answered him.
"Yep. And she seemed like she was in a great hurry too..." Another piped in.
Miroku rushed out, not bothering to hear the rest. Sango had probably overheard his conversation with his mother. He could've sworn there was rustling behind a certain potted plant while they were talking. But where would she go? There was no other place she could turn to, he had already checked with her family, friends and with Kagome.
Of course he could check the neighboring kingdoms. She could not have gone far.
Kirara dragged the unconscious knight out of the muddy pool that they had somehow fallen into. It was still raining and by this time it was nearly nightfall. Miraculously, they had both escaped mostly unhurt, except for the fact that Sango was out cold. There were several bushes growing on the side of the ravine they greatly lessened the impact of the fall.
"Jaken. Bring him over." A tall, elegant man with silver hair that flowed past his back said.
His attendant, Jaken looked at him quizzically. "But Sesshomaru-sama! He's probably already dead!"
"Are you disobeying me?" Sesshomaru said coldly.
Jaken looked outside from the carriage they were riding. It was pouring buckets and Lord Sesshomaru wanted to pick up some knight lying on the road, who was probably dead anyway. Sometimes he didn't understand his Master. He looked fearfully at Sesshomaru who was staring at him, a blank expression on his face, Jaken gulped.
Jaken got Kirara to pull Sango on its back and tied it securely to the rear of the carriage. It was off to the Western Lands.
Inuyasha looked annoyedly at Miroku. The captain had been pacing around for quite some time now and it was getting on his nerves.
"Will you cut that out!?" he said.
"But what if she isn't here?" Miroku retorted. At present they were in the waiting room of a nearby country. Miroku and the others had theorized that Sango had probably ran off to one of the nearby states and offered her services as a knight.
"You have to have faith that we will find her." Kagome said. She and Inuyasha had tagged along, when they heard the news of Sango's disappearance.
"Oh, Miroku!" the hime of the palace rushed toward the worried knight delightedly. "I knew you'd come!"
"Ah...my lady. It greatly pains me to see your beauty once more...." Miroku mumbled as he kissed her hand. The hime blushed. Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"Have you come to marry me?" the girl asked.
"Unfortunately...we have come on business...One of our knights has run away. Would your father know if any of our knights has come here to pledge allegiance to your kingdom?" Miroku said, trying as hard as he could to change the topic.
"Oh so the rumors were true! You-- you're having an affair with-- with-- another man!" the hime was so red in the face that Kagome thought she would burst with indignation. Apparently, the word had spread so fast that the information became somewhat-- distorted.
"Oh, no, no!" Miroku stammered.
"Serves him right." Inuyasha said.
"Now, Inuyasha, don't you think he's going through enough?" Kagome sighed. "I wonder where Sango is."
Sango regained consciousness just as the drawbridge was lowered and they were about to enter a strange fort. Technically, it wasn't even a fort, it was a castle. Large stone statues of dog demons adorned the gates and the walls were made of thick granite. Sango rubbed her head, someone had rescued her, so it seemed.
"Lord Sesshomaru, it is good to see you." a long-haired maiden bowed, as Sesshomaru stepped down from the carriage. He said nothing but only nodded in reply. Then he looked at Sango who stiffened immediately, unsure of just what to do at the moment. Behind him was a strange-looking creature with green skin and and a staff with three heads.
"Good. You're awake." he said. "I will speak with you in the morning." Then he turned to the maiden, whose back was turned to Sango the whole time. "We have a guest. Have a room ready."
"Uh...thank you, sir...." Sango said, wondering if she showed enough gratefulness to this person. At any rate, he didn't seem to care, and left without a word.
The lady knight was then left with the young woman. When Sango saw her face, she gasped with surprise. "Lady Kagome? What are you doing here?"
The young woman looked at Sango strangely. "My name is Kikyo. I will lead you to your temporary quarters. Please follow me."
"But.." Sango closed her mouth. Either Kagome had a twin or this was her idea of a joke, Sango didn't know, so she opted instead to follow "Kagome" quietly.
"Are you sure you're not...?" Sango asked again when they got to the room. Kikyo looked at her rather coldly, with those strange emotionless eyes. Sango shook her head, "I'm sorry..." she said, once she realized that Kagome could never have eyes like those. But the resemblance was so uncanny.
"You are at the palace of Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Lands. I suppose he saved you from certain death, but it is not from the goodness of his heart that he did this..." Kikyo said as she stood by the door.
"...he has been looking for good knights for the tournament, as the position for Captain is vacant. I suppose you should feel rather fortunate because thias opportunity has presented itself to you." Kikyo continued. "See you in the morning."
Sango flopped down on the bed tiredly. She supposed she should feel fortunate, after all. It wasn't going to be so hard, was it?
The lady knight made her way through the crowd that had gathered to watch the tournament. It was noisy and hot, and Sango had to shove hard through the throng so that she could pass. Finally she made her way to the front registration.
"I want to register, sir." Sango said politely.
At large, fat man looked at her and guffawed. "Eh! You want to join, young lad? You're kidding aren't ya?" Sango tried hard not to scowl, she had fought demons. Who did this man think he was? She nodded.
"Ho! You'll be running home to mother after a fight or two! Lord Sesshomaru let youkai join in. He's youkai himself you know." He said as he handed Sango the form, she signed it. "Don't tell me I didn't warn ya!" he said as he laughed again.
Inuyasha, Kagome and Miroku had completed checking a rather long list of kingdoms. It had been nearly a week since Sango had left and there was still no sign of her anywhere.
"But there's still the Western Lands!" Kagome protested.
"She couldn't have gone there." Inuyasha countered.
"Why not? It's the only place we haven't looked, and I doubt she could've boarded a boat. the ports are regulated around here." Miroku said, he was very worried by now. Sango...
"Say...Isn't that were your brother set up his kingdom?" Kagome looked at Inuyasha. She had heard of Inuyasha's stepbrother, Sesshomaru but had never met him in person.
"Feh. He isn't my brother." Inuyasha growled.
"So we're going then." Miroku said.
Author's Notes: Whee! I'm so happy that you guys are still interested in this fic. ^_^ I'll try to get the chapters out as fast as I can. Dunno why the title refuses to place itself at the center. Well, anyway...
Meta_Lise: I'll try my best to keep the chapters coming. Thanks. ^_^
ViRgO: Hm. Yes, I agree, Kuranosuke is a rather nice guy...too bad Sango already belongs to Miroku, ne?
Talhonjik: Oh, thanks for reading A Lady Knight's Tale. I really liked writing it too.
BabyPrin: I often hear from you at the Mirosan ML, ne? I just lurk...Oh dear, it seems they have to be separated for a while...
Tears of Amethyst: It isn't hard to picture Miroku with a sword, really. He's just so dashing and *sigh*...
Araki-chan: Nice to hear from you again. Hope I won't disappoint. =)
Phoebi: Aww. Thanks. ^_^ It really warms the heart.
Shirayuki: Hai! I will continue for people like you. Thanks. ^_^
Nightswift: Now...now. ^_^ We wouldn't have a story if she didn't run away would we? O_o
Vegetpart9: I just hope this will be as interesting to my readers as its predecessor. Thanks.=)
Hanamaru825: Thanks for the review...here it is for all of you! (Hey that rhymes...)
Ann: Arigato! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. ^_^