Sakura's Note: This is a short chapter, but I ended it at a place I think leaves it off good. I'll be at the AnimeNEXT convention from June 17th to 19th, so hopefully I'll post some more updates before I leave, but I can't make any promises. This chapter should give you a quick snack of Thief of Hearts before another longer chapter occurs. It's around six or seven pages I think, but I really like it.
Also, thank you everyone for your reviews and for waiting dedicatedly and patiently for an update. A lot has been going on in the last few months and I've had to deal with it. Hopefully the summer will bring some breaks between drama and I will be able to put a lot more of my time into writing like I love to do.
Enjoy this chapter and Arigatou! I love you guys!
.-..-.
Chapter 10: Suspicions
.-..-.
Kyuukotsu brought out another new barrel of beer, uncorking it and drinking up his fill before continuing his story. "That girl in the gypsy camp…Yura's her name."
Jakotsu nodded, deeply interested in the story unraveling in front of him. The plot wasn't very filling, but it was something more entertaining than watching Bankotsu decide to drink himself into a stupor.
"She had invited our King over here for a little meet up last night…but he turned her down…"
Keeping an interested look on his face, Inuyasha continued to sneak glances at Miroku out of the corner of his eye. Something had been bothering him since they'd arrived.
Everyone laughed at the vivid details of the night before. It hadn't been as intimate as they'd once thought, but the fact that Kyuukotsu had found Ginkotsu getting beat up for harassing Yura was very entertaining indeed. After the laughter died down however, more serious matters than Ginkotsu's fierce bearing from the night before resumed.
"Onigumo's dead…" Mukotsu muttered, swaying the topic away from girls. "Wow."
Kouga rolled his eyes from his seat, but didn't alert anyone to his annoyance. Everyone already knew of his distaste for both Onigumo and Naraku, but if he were to show his feelings now he would be a suspect.
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes in concentration. Then again, Kouga is a suspect already.
"I bet I know who it was."
Looking up in surprise, Inuyasha eyed Renkotsu confusedly. What was he getting at?
"Who hates Onigumo more than anyone else?" Renkotsu continued, walking over to get another fill of wine.
Jinenji quietly looked up from his gold, "Kagura?"
A devious smile appeared on Renkotsu's face, chilling the one he was staring at.
Inuyasha refused to waver under Renkotsu's gaze, instead leveling him with his own. "Get to the point, Renkotsu."
The bald man grinned. "You're half right, Jinenji. It is a woman, but not his sister. One much closer to home."
It only took Inuyasha a moment to realize whom he was accusing. "You think it was Kikyo."
Ignoring the way his King addressed their permanent captive, Renkotsu shrugged. "It makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Onigumo was always making passes at her, and no one here can deny that she didn't despise it. She has the power to do it. She's proven she can do enough to threaten us. The only reason she hasn't killed us all is that hold you have over her. While we were gone, who's to say that she didn't escape and find something of his?"
The looks on some of his men's faces froze him to the bone. Inuyasha glared, "She can't escape."
"Really? You think so." Coughing and giving Miroku a swift look, the renegade Jidai laughed. "Things go on without you knowing it, Inuyasha. I'm not saying that I'm one of the people who goes behind your back, but you can't expect to know everything." Sighing, Renkotsu fell off his high horse in temporary guilt. "Think about it. She has the power to kill him and get him out of her way. Why shouldn't she use it?"
There was no doubt in his mind that whatever had killed Onigumo had been at the Gypsy camp with them that night… Kikyo could have killed him, but not from miles away. He would have had to be near her, and she would have had to prepare. He knew. He'd asked her if she could once and, with solemn eyes, she had confessed.
"The miko would not kill anyone here." Without realizing it, Miroku had come up beside him. He was not about to let a possible militia for the girl occur. "She's been with us over a year and hasn't laid a hand on any one of us. Even if we think she did it, there is really no way she could have. What earthly woman could kill a man so far away from her?"
Bankotsu, half drunk, called out. "One who can make a whole damn cave full of gold and forty men invisible." Smirking at his cleverness, he went back to eating his chicken.
Narrowing his eyes warningly at Jakotsu, Inuyasha watched as Jakotsu gave Bankotsu a few quick "wake up" slaps before Bankotsu came back to his senses.
Giving his King a quick look, he heaved his shoulders and tried to save himself. "But…then again…gypsies could have done it too. We've all seen what they can do." His educational speech sounded more like a question than an answer, but it had overridden some of the Jidai's doubts.
"Kikyo didn't kill Naraku." He spoke it low enough that it was now an unwritten law.
Turning his back on his doubting men, Inuyasha calmly walked out of Ano Horaana.
As soon as he was a good distance away, the frown he'd been fighting inside appeared. A deep growl rose in his chest and a roar of anger came from his mouth.
Nothing was working out the way it was supposed to…
Not the jewel…
Not the Jidai…
Not even himself.
.-..-.
"This is my grave." Sango looked unsurely at Kagome for a moment before taking a deep breath. "This tomb…?"
Nodding, Kagome tried taking the girl's mind off what had almost been set in stone. "We were planning to close it up after the traditional four days when the villagers are allowed to come visit. Luckily, you showed up before then."
"But, only the Royal Family is buried in the tomb, Kagome. I'm your cousin, I'm not your immediate family by blood, no matter how much I know you're my sister!"
"You're a lot more than just my cousin, Sango. We both know that. You're my best friend, my sister, and you live both of our lives." Running her finger across the marble coffin, Kagome sighed. "I'm so happy that you aren't dead."
Sango smiled, "I'm far from it!"
Reverting to seriousness, Kagome placed her hand on her cousin's engraved name. "Sango, what happened? Why were you gone for so long before you came back?"
There was no way she would be able to live with herself if she didn't tell Kagome the truth. But could she trust her with the truth?
Yes, they were blood. But, Miroku was a Jidai, and now Kagome was temporarily Sultana. Where the line was, she felt guilty for not knowing. "Harpies captured me in the desert." She ignored Kagome's shocked face. "I don't know exactly how long I was there, but before long someone came…and rescued me."
The words "rescued me" seemed foreign in her mouth, especially when she was talking about Miroku. Yes,…he did rescue me…even though he had no reason to.
"Someone…rescued you." Trying hard not to be excited, Kagome grabbed the girl. "Who was it?"
"His name…it was Miroku."
Turning to leave the empty tomb, Kagome nodded to herself. "He deserves a royal thank you. I'll send some of the guards out in search of him."
"What! Kagome, no! He wanted to remain anonymous-"
It was too late. Kagome was gone.
.-..-.
"I really don't think it's healthy to be pacing and yelling like that." Pointing out his concern in a humorous manner, Miroku crossed his arms and leaned against the closest palm tree. "Inuyasha, Kikyo didn't kill Onigumo."
"I know that!"
Ignoring Inuyasha's snapped response, Miroku sighed. "Well, then what is it? You just came back from the gypsy camp and Onigumo's gone."
"I didn't like the guy, but he was a Jidai. It wouldn't be right if I just ignored the fact that he kicked the bucket."
Miroku chuckled. "You've always had the qualities of a King deep down in there somewhere…"
"Where were you?"
Choking on something nonexistent, Miroku pretended he hadn't heard the question. "Come back in, the Jidai are already in the process of blaming more people for his death-"
'Where were you?"
With a sigh, Miroku confessed. "Here." There was a pause. "Something tells me you don't follow…"
Inuyasha frowned, advancing. "Here?"
"For the most part." Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Miroku took a step back. "I had to go out and do something, but other than that-"
"You could have been dead."
"Come on Inuyasha, you know that I'm not going to die just yet. There are things in this world I need to take care of first." Giving an uneasy smile, Miroku headed back towards Ano Horaana until he felt an arm stop him.
"Miroku, stop being so damn cryptic and tell me the truth. What's going on?" Grabbing Miroku's collar, he waited. He was in no hurry to return to the other Jidai.
"There isn't an easy way to tell you what you're about to hear." Slumping his shoulders forward with a bowed head, Miroku muttered something Inuyasha could have sworn he didn't really hear.
"What kind of- -A Shikonian woman? That woman?"
"Yash, your voice is getting very low… You should calm down." Frowning at the hand holding him about an inch up in the air, Miroku closed his eyes. "I can't help who I've fallen for."
"You're an idiot." Dropping his best friend into the sand, Inuyasha glared. "She's a Shikonian warrior who has tried to kill you before. And you…saved her life?"
"It was the Harpies! You know what they do to women."
"Keh!" I would have done the same thing…but I wouldn't have fallen for the wench.
Miroku raised an eyebrow. "I don't see why it matters now. She won't be coming back."
"She knows the way back, and she's been after us forever! Of course she'll be back." Inuyasha ran a hand down his face miserably. "Damn your idiotic actions around wenches!"
.-..-.
"He wanted to remain anonymous. That's why he left before anyone could see him!" Sango protested.
Kagome eyed her warily for a moment. "There's something you're not telling me… No one lives out there in the desert for miles. What was he? A wandering salesman?"
"No." Sango twiddled her thumbs behind her back anxiously. When would her stubborn cousin drop the subject?
"So he was a mysterious hero randomly walking through the desert." Nodding in sarcastic understanding, Kagome winked. "Or…he's an outlaw." She'd meant it to be a joke… "Sango?"
Sango could feel herself getting nervous. I'm probably as pale as a fish belly by now!"
Clasping a hand to her mouth, Kagome dropped to her bed. "He's an outlaw!"
Luckily, she had whispered or else the guards outside her bedroom would have been all ears.
Hiding her face behind her hands, Sango cursed loudly. Ignoring Kagome's shocked face, she stormed from the room.
Oblivious to the curious glances the guards were giving her, she hurried down the marble hallway.
"Sango! Get back here!"
Kagome was following her, but in only a pair of silk slippers, the temporary Sultana of Shikon was bound to move slower than she did in her warrior attire.
What are you going to do, Sango? You spilled the beans without saying a word, and now more than ever Kagome will try to find him!
Stopping when she turned a corner – already far ahead of Kagome – Sango groped at the wall. "Why…do I care?"
Humiliation. Her mind was always so logical. But, it also lied.
Sliding down the wall into a slump of confusion and torment, Sango fought to sort everything out. Why was a man she had been after for killing so many, stealing so much, the man flooding her thoughts? Cursing her façade for being so weak around Kagome, she made herself stand. If she stayed there too long, Kagome would come after her.
By prolonging the time it took for Miroku's true identity to be revealed, she was prolonging her own time, too.
"Curse you, Miroku…Only a Jidai could taint my thoughts."
.-..-.
"Inuyasha!" Jakotsu jumped up out of his seat happily, "Please forgive Renkotsu for his stupidity, he didn't mean anything by it-"
Inuyasha waved a hand, making his way towards his room. He had some serious thinking to do.
He could hear shuffling from behind the miko's curtains and sighed. "Why are you still up?" The room was so boring, how long could she bare to sit and stare all day? Noticing her shadow turn to face him, her voice flowed out from behind the divide.
"Too much sleep and I would have a headache. Besides, it can be interesting…listening to your men accuse me of things that are physically impossible for me to do." There was a pause before she decided to speak again. "Be sure to thank your brother, Miroku, was it?"
"Miroku is not my real brother." Inuyasha corrected, falling onto his bed with a knitted brow.
"I know, but he's much closer to you than your real one. Besides, you didn't deny that he was your brother in your heart."
Inuyasha frowned, closing one eye while the other focused on where the miko sat. "Why do you want me to thank Miroku for you, anyway, nosy eavesdropper?"
He heard a light laugh from behind the red curtains. "Because he…understands."
"Whatever." It made no sense to him, actually. But, if the wench wanted to give someone thanks, it was the least he could do.
The two became silent.
Finally, there was enough peace and quiet for him to think. Contrary to his men's beliefs, he did have to think before a plan popped into his head.
The Princess of Shikon had the Shikon Jewel, and a fiery way of protecting it. She had an odd gift, something he only believed Kikyo to know how to do.
Kikyo was from a far away land, Japan, and had been here for only a few days before Inuyasha was able to capture her. Pure and talented, she had been the perfect way for the Sengoku Jidai to become invincible. But, miko training was in Asia…
…Not here.
"There's gotta be a way…"
Inuyasha heard something and looked up. Kikyo had finally lain down to sleep. Finally…
The Princess was young, probably with a suitor. Whether the suitor pleased or displeased her didn't matter. There were ways to get into Shikon unnoticed, especially with his skills. What then? He could seduce her, get her in the perfect spot, and then grab the Jewel… But with her powers or purity, there was a strong doubt.
Another attempt at a raid would end badly, especially with a weak division in his men at the moment. To go in alone would be safer, but another go at fighting her would end just as humiliating as the first time. I refuse to think of such pansy thoughts again…
His mind flickering back to Onigumo's death, Inuyasha growled. His mind was too busy with worry to think of anything –wait. That storyteller… What had she been saying in that story of hers?
"….The Princess wandered… if she would ever see him again, and she did. He came to her, erasing all first impressions…" Jumping up, Inuyasha dashed from the room.
Kikyo opened her eyes, still wide awake, and gave a sad smile. "…and they fell in love."