Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-chan. Or Mara, Daugther of the Nile. No more to be said.
A/N: Hello everybody, I'm back, after such a long time! I know that you all are upset and are probably threatening me with your eating utensils but let me say a few things before you spear me! 1.) I have finally updated! That should be enough to get you to calm down. 2.) I am aready starting on the next chapter, which should relieve any remaining tension that you have. 3.) You can't spear me through your computer, so HA! (sorry, had to get that out ;) And now, for the next chappie which I know that you are all so eager to read!
Chapter 5 - I Only Wanted A Cup Of Water!
Kagome leaned on the edge of the rail of the ship, glaring and muttering to herself. It was two days after the little episode with Inu-Yasha and Miroku, and she hadn't seen either of them since. She shook her head and continued to glare.
The poor river was receiving the end of her anger, and it wasn't its fault. It couldn't help it if Miroku had been helped out of the water, or that Inu-Yasha had survived what was now infamously known as her Death Punch.
If Kagome had it her way, Miroku would have a.) drowned right in front of her without her help, or b.) crawled onto the deck and groveled at her feet for her forgiveness. But NO, some idiot had to offer a helping hand to Miroku, who ended up back on the boat as if nothing had happened, and then proceeded to ignore her as if she hadn't just tossed him off of the boat.
Inu-Yasha was a whole different matter that just made her more irritated. Kagome had stalked off, the essence of righteous justice, when low and behold, Inu-Yasha just stood up as if nothing had happened, and walked away! Come ON! What was the DEAL! Was she going crazy or something! Had she merely imagined that she had punched the life out of Inu-Yasha? or thrown Miroku into the bay?...She knew that she wasn't going crazy, so what the beep was going on! (no curse words that strong allowed on public viewingsJ) Kagome knew that she was really pissed, because she didn't use words that strong in her mind on a daily basis!
Then, speaking of the devil himself, Inu-Yasha was right next her, leaning on the rail. She almost laughed bitterly at his audacity. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, watching as she glared out at everything and nothing, noted how she almost unconsciously inched away from him. He in turn, inched closer to her, to which she replied by inching away again. He then inched closer to her. And so on they went, all around the deck, inching and inching, till they were back were they started.
Kagome then mustered her anger and shouted, "How much does it take for you to get the hint! I don't want to breathe next to you, stand next to you, or even be on the same boat as you, but I have to, so I'll deal with that. But anything closer than that and you will get another knuckle sandwich, Bub!" Inu-Yasha jumped back with his hands raised in surrender. "Wait! Just hear me out! Please!" He had a plan, she knew it, since he wouldn't agree to talk to her unless he wanted something.
"I must admit that I was rather rude the day before-" she snorted, but he continued, "and I'm here to say that I'm sorry. We got off on the wrong foot, that day, so let us start over." He held out his hand. "My name is Inu-Yasha. How do you do?" She looked at his hand suspiciously, but then sighed and shook it, saying, "My name is Kagome. I'm fine, thank you."
Then they enjoyed themselves as well as they could, and they talked about all kinds of things. Kagome was puzzled that for a scribe Inu-Yasha was rather smart, which was highly unusual. When questioned about his education, he looked at her sharply and said that he had been trained by his master, then changed the subject. Yes, he was very curious, indeed. Inu-Yasha realized that this was unusual also. "Uh-oh. I think that she's suspicious of me…I better watch what I say from now on…" And after that, they only talked about things that they obviously both knew about, which made the conversation very boring and awkward.
The next day, Inu-Yasha and Kagome were sitting by the rail having some tea, when Miroku came up and sat next to them.
Inu-Yasha suddenly got a gleam in his eyes, as he watched the captain fidget nervously. Kagome knew that she would be ignored until the end of the conversation when Inu-Yasha started talking.
"Captain, I find it rather interesting that you were here on the river at this time of year. There aren't a lot of other ships out, which makes you stand out quite a bit," Inu-Yasha mentioned smoothly. Miroku's eyes darted to him and looked away. "Well, the Queen wanted a few ships that would go to the European countries and get some more expensive things for her new summer palace. I just came back from one of her errands when you two came aboard," he said uneasily. "Was…gold, maybe, one of the things that she wanted you to get?" Miroku looked deathly pale. "Y-Yes, that was one of the things…" Miroku could tell where this was going. "Do you suppose the gold is for more of her temples? What do you think of her use of the country's treasury?" Inu-Yasha questioned, all too innocently. Miroku looked worse, if that was even possible. "It's not my place to judge the Queen's decisions! I am but her humble servant!" He was starting to look frantic, like he wanted to run away from the conversation. But Inu-Yasha continued on, ruthlessly. "Oh really? I seem to remember that you said something different, less than a week ago…Hmm…now what did you say again? Oh! I remember. You said something along the lines of-"
Miroku stood up abruptly. "Inu-Yasha, if I may speak to you, in private in my rooms when you can find time?" He nodded stiffly to Kagome and walked quickly away. Inu-Yasha grinned triumphantly and stood up. "Well, I had better go see what the Captain wants to tell me…" He knew exactly what Miroku wanted to say, if his expression meant anything at all. He looked like a cat that had just gotten into the cream. "If you'll excuse me, Miss…" he let the sentence trail off as he walked away. Kagome watched him until he went around the corner and sighed. Something fishy was definitely going on around here, but she ignored them in favor of the reason "it's none of my business, and has nothing to do with me, so I don't care."
But after a few minutes, she was getting curious, and she was thirsty. The water dispenser just happened to be in that area, so she decided that she would go get some water, make sure that no one was getting beat up, and then return to her seat. She got up, and walked slowly around the corner, enjoying the scenery when she ran into something that grabbed her. "I knew that you would come investigate sooner or later," Inu-Yasha said in her ear. She ripped her arm out of his grasp and glared at him. "For your information, I just came to get some water because I was thirsty. Are you happy now? I wasn't coming to spy on you!" She tossed her head and ignored him as she got a cup. Suddenly she was grabbed again and her water went flying out of her hand. "Listen, you little…"he looked her up and down as if measuring her, "street rat," he snarled. "I know who you work for, and I won't hesitate to tell him if you don't cooperate." She immediately stiffened. "Now come along, into the Captain's room." He dragged her through the door and slammed it. She sat down shakily on the stool in the corner.
Miroku jumped at their entry, and frowned. "What is she doing here! Is she in it too?" Inu-Yasha smirked. "She is about to be. Kagome, again I failed to introduce myself correctly. The third try's a charm." He straightened up. "Do remember the ruler before Kikyo?" She nodded, and he continued.
"That ruler had two sons. One was Sesshomaru…" he paused as if thinking out his next move. "And the other…was Inu-Yasha. Me, to be precise." He didn't let her say anything, and continued. "Now that you know, you will understand what I'm about to say.
Kikyo isn't the rightful ruler. My father told me directly, that Sesshomaru would rule after he died. It is in his will. Kikyo has the will hidden. When my father died, Kikyo claimed that he left the kingdom to her, and since the will was supposedly 'lost', no one could prove her wrong. It also helped that she had a lot of strong supporters from the court. These were people she had manipulated and blackmailed into following her. She seems to have forgotten that the king was my father, and that Sesshomaru is my brother."
Kagome couldn't wait any longer. "So let me guess. We, along with the King's secret supporters, are going to free His Majesty and put him on the throne as the rightful ruler." Inu-Yasha looked surprised at her summary. "…Exactly. Kagome, you will have a special part in this plan. You will get my messages to Sesshomaru. Kikyo has set up a marriage for him with a foreign princess from China. She isn't really from China, but no one else will know. You will be her translator for the king, and while you are there, you will give him my messages."
Miroku looked puzzled. "But I still don't understand why Kagome has to be a part of it."
Inu-Yasha replied, "She can speak Chinese. I heard her muttering curses when she was shoved out of the way by a guard in the city. She will obediently participate, or I will report her to her master." Miroku looked at her. "She is a runaway slave," Inu-Yasha said. Miroku nodded.
Kagome almost laughed with relief. When Inu-Yasha said that he knew her master, she thought he was talking about her new, evil one, who threatened to kill her if anyone found out who she was. Inu-Yasha only knew about the fat, nasty master. What luck! While Inu-Yasha knew virtually nothing about her, she now knew who Sesshomaru's main supporter was. She would be rich! Now, she just had to play along, and soon she wouldn't have any worries. She stood up and smoothed what little clothing she had.
"I…I understand completely. I will go along with your evil plan, because you threaten me with those terms. But know that I'm not happy about it." She finished her speech and glanced to see how he was taking it. Inu-Yasha was smirking, looking triumphant and satisfied, as if he knew that she would agree all along. That made her want to deny him, just to get the satisfaction of seeing him squirm once he saw his blackmail was useless, since she no longer worked for that fat man.
But she kept her anger inside, and settled for the fact that her silence would have its rewards when she told her boss his name, and he was beheaded for treason. She started to chuckle evilly, but stopped suddenly when she saw them looking at her quizzically. She hurried to cover her mistake. "Uh…I was just thinking that being the princess's translator would be the perfect opportunity to get messages to the king. But what about my appearance?"
Inu-Yasha frowned in thought. Before he could come up with an answer, Kagome snapped her fingers. "I know a man who lives in Nagoya who will fix me up for a price," she said, remembering the man that her current master told her to go. "That's lucky," Inu-Yasha mussed. "Nagoya is right where the princess's barge will stop before she heads to the palace to meet Sesshomaru. Say, who is this man that you trust so fully?" Kagome sighed.
"His name is Muso, and he was a friend of mine before he was freed and started his own shop. He will help me, if I pay him." Inu-Yasha nodded absently. He took a ring out of his inner robe and gave it to Kagome. "You will pay him with that ring. You don't know how much that ring means to me, or how passionate I am about my cause to be giving it away. Make sure that it goes straight to this man, and to no one else." Kagome nodded solemnly and tucked it inside her sash along with the blue triangle.
Inu-Yasha clapped his hands. "Now that we've gotten through all the unpleasantness, who wants cheese puffs, my treat?"
Kagome walked out onto the deck, leaving the two amigos alone with their beer and their 'manly stories'. She sighed, remembering the second personality that Inu-Yasha seemed to switch to after all of the dirty work was over. "He would be a great politician: he's good looking and two faced. Not to mention his great acting depending on the crowd," she thought sarcastically.
Then she remembered her master's words to contact him as soon as she had any information. Looking out at the people on the pier, she shrugged harmlessly. "What's one day? I'll just keep quiet for a little longer to get his whole plan and try to find more rebels, and then I'll cash in my check and head to one of those spa thingies! And then I'll go get clothes, and a house! I can't wait to be rich!" Ignoring the little feeling of regret about her future betrayal of Inu- Yasha, she started planning her first real shopping spree.
A/N: So, whatcha think? Huh, huh, huh? TELL ME PLEASE! Review, I beg of you. About anything and everything, it could be totally random, it could even be about spelling mistakes! Okay, enough with the begging. (;p) See all ya'll in the next chappie! Bai!
