INUYASHA
This was kinda interesting. I got three chapters done with this, and I like the feel. But it was going no where fast, so I ended up dropping it. I like the way I portrayed everyone, though. A tad dry sometimes, but hey, I was a sixth grader when I wrote this. Not the greatest author in the world, but I could take some tips from a younger me, even if my grammatical sense has improved.
First Danger
Kagome was in the Central Tower, looking out to the west, and she smiled at the sky. It was the sort of bluish green that came before the sky became pink during a glorious sunset. She was wearing a long, blue dress, with a darker bluish-purple sash. Her long black hair was done up in a thick braid, and strands of silver and pale blue ribbon were braided into it as well. She also had a few cherry blossoms tucked away on the right side, which you could see from the front.
"Lady Kagome?" said a voice from the entryway into the staircase.
"Yes Sango?" Kagome asked as the young woman, who was just a little older then her, walked over to the railing beside her, and leaned against it as well. She was wearing a dress in the darker shades of green, and her hair was done into a sort of spiral bun on the back of her head. It was rather plain, but fancy too, at the same time. She was the daughter of the knight that her father trusted the most, and they had become good friends.
"The sunset is beautiful tonight." she said slowly. "Will you go again?"
"I believe I will." Kagome said with a sigh, closing her eyes. "Tomorrow is my birthday. I have to get rid of this stress, and riding is calming. Would you like to go with me? But wait, tonight is a full moon, isn't it?" she said with a laugh. "You wouldn't leave this castle unless the werewolves came in."
"It isn't just the myths of the moon, Kagome!" Sango said quickly. "Demons attack on the nights of full moons, you know. I just try to avoid them."
"I suppose. But where is Kirara?" Kagome asked, looking around.
"She's back in my room-" Sango started, but was cut off by a mewing sound from the stairs. "-I mean, she's in the stairwell." she corrected with a laugh.
Looking back, Kagome saw the slim streaks of clouds that fell over the sky had turned pink tinted gold, and the sky was a pink that faded into a sort of purple higher up, and then the nightly blue. The longer she watched, the more gold tinted the sky became, and the less apparent the blue was. Then the golden clouds turned to an orangey pink, and the sky was enveloped in the purple. The clouds became more pink as time passed, the purple growing darker, slowly changing into the blackish blue that cloaked the stars at night.
"Well, Sango, I'm going to go now." Kagome said, as her friend walked down the stairs. She stopped to pull on her long, midnight blue cloak, which came up and covered all of her hair, and grab her bow and a quiver of arrows, since she was a fairly good shot.
The stars were out already, and the moon lit the stables as she sneaked out to them.
Opening the door, she leaned in and called gently, "Lunau? Lunóütaíriji?" as she walked in softly.
There was a quiet sound from one of the stalls. It was a horse, and she was white, spotted with soft gray, making her look like slightly tarnished, but still beautiful, silver.
Kagome smiled, and pulled the horse from the stall. She was already saddled, - Sota knew of her little trips - so all she had to do was leave.
She sighed, mounted her horse, and rode off into the forest, letting the bright light from the moon guide her.
She pulled the small gem from around her neck. It was pretty, a soft, pale blue, and it started to glow softly. Kagome sighed. It did that often. Her mother had given it to her, and every once in a while, it would glow softly, but usually right before a group of demons attacked her home. Now it glowed every full moon, and almost every other week besides, so she didn't think it was because they were under attack.
Suddenly her head shot up. She'd thought she'd heard something. Looking around, she realized she didn't know which way was back to the castle. And then she heard a laugh, a whistling sound, and hoof beats. Her eyes flashed in fear as she realized that they were behind her, and she turned to run, but then noticed they were in front of her, too. Her breath quickened.
"Hey, girlie. What are you doing out here at night?" one of the men asked. They were almost all on horses. "And what's with that horse?" He eyed her quiver of arrows on her back.
"Eh, Leader, I bet she stole it from the Castle. She was running away from it." another man said, and the 'leader' laughed.
"Hah, hah, hah! You're probably right!" And he walked up to her, leaping off his horse. He pulled out a dagger, and it's blade glinted in the moonlight. His horse jumped, and the long dagger went through it's chest. She winced at the sound of the cracking bones of the horse's ribs.
"Aw, what a shame. Now we have to take your horse, girlie. But you stole it anyway, right? So it's legal to return it to the King, and they'll probably give us a new horse!" He roared with laughter again.
Kagome started to shake. "No!" she cried, pulling Lunau's reins, and charging her forward. She heard the disgusting splatter of blood as the dagger impaled another of the 'leader's' subjects, but she kept going. Nothing would stop her...she hoped.
Obtain Rescue
The young man walked around the forest. He had a long, deep red cloak over him, so you couldn't see his face. But he stopped, and pulled the hood back, and looked up at the full moon, letting his silver hair show. He inhaled the air around him, and then breathed out.
He jerked, and turned. There! He sniffed again, and caught a scent of the young woman he'd smelled faintly before. She smelled scared, and she smelled of death.
He was in a small clearing, and also on a path. The young woman on the horse pulled out onto the path, and was headed towards him, but her horse sensed him, frightened, and reared away, throwing her forward. She would have landed on the ground, but the young man caught her. She leaned heavily against him, not noticing the way her horse backed away in fear. She was breathing heavy.
He leaned forward slightly and sniffed her. The scent of death was just then settling on her, as if she'd walked through it unintentionally. But she sure had been scared. Because she looked up at him with silvery purple-blue eyes that were full of fear and desperation. "Help me." she whispered.
Just then a group of men ran onto the path, some on horses, some not. The man in front was so startled to see the woman clinging to the man, he stopped short.
But he quickly recovered. "Thank you for catching that wench. She stole my horse, so I had to borrow one from my comrades. And she belongs to us; she was trying to run away. Again." he added, almost as an afterthought.
The young man whom the girl was clinging to looked up when she huddled farther against him at the word 'wench'. 'She's scared of these men, who aren't all that dangerous, but not of me, who could kill her in the blink of an eye? ' he thought, turning to stare at her again. But he pushed those thoughts away quickly. She was scared, and he felt like helping her.
"I think not." he said. "She belongs to no one, of that I am sure." he said, and he was sure. "And you wreak of death; she merely seems to have passed by it. You have killed all your life, and she saw death for the first time a few moments ago. She is not yours."
"That's not true. My mother's dead." she muttered.
But he continued. "And she has stolen nothing. Yet." he added with a smirk as a few ideas popped into his head at the sight of her bow and arrows.
"Ah . . . ah . . . how do you know all that?" the man asked, not even trying to deny it; there was something about this man that made every single one of his instincts scream to run, especially at the smirk on his face. But the girl wasn't running, so neither would he.
The young man snarled. "Can you not feel it?" he asked. "Can you not feel it in the wind, in the light, in the very earth that I am dangerous? This woman cannot, which surprises me, but still . . . Weren't you ever told not to walk around alone at night? Especially under a full moon? Can't you tell I'm a demon?"
The group gasped, and went to run, but not before the leader turned to aim an arrow at the young woman's back. The demon caught it quickly, and realized that the woman had fallen asleep somewhere around after she'd said her mother was dead. Good. She could go longer without knowing, then.
But the man couldn't get away. He was angry that he had tried to kill this woman, and although he didn't know why . . . frankly, he didn't care. He raised his arm, and swept his long claws at the man, who fell down, dead.
Kagome blinked. She was in a room, and she was on a soft bed. How had she gotten here? The last thing she could remember was that strange man saving her from those bandits last night. She shuddered. They had been about to kill her. And they thought they wouldn't have gotten in trouble for it, because she had stolen the horse from the royal stables.
Sitting up, she looked around. She was in a room with only one door and no window. The door was simply a clothe hung from the frame. She realized with a gasp that the bed she was on was made out of the wall, and the blankets were very thin things - not that she minded, though. Sometimes she would spend a week in the woods to get away from the so-called 'luxuries' of being a princess. But - she looked down to notice she was wearing that fine blue dress, and it wasn't ripped or torn yet - she usually wore more suitable clothes then this.
"Why, good morning, sleeping beauty." said a voice from the direction of the 'door'. Kagome turned to see a man standing there. It was the same one from last night, and he was leaning against the door frame. "Mind telling me why those men wanted you back so badly?"
"They were bandits, and they wanted my horse. By the way, where is Lunóütaíriji?" Kagome asked, looking past the man to see another room.
"I take it that's your horse's name?"
"Yeah, Lunau's what I call her."
"She's just outside." the man replied. 'She's talking about it so nonchalantly, I don't believe she stole it. And it's got a name, too.' he thought.
"And where are we?" Kagome asked, swinging her lags over the edge of the bed.
"Um, just a little 'hut' I built into the side of the riverbank. Well, my father built it, but it's mine now." he said, walking over to help her walk, but she didn't look like she needed that much help.
"The river?" she asked. "Which river? I know three that have large enough banks."
"The river Mallia. It's right outside." He was almost staring at her. After he'd taken off that cloak last night, and seen the fancy dress, he'd guessed she was a court lady. But she didn't act like one. He'd heard that ladies in the king's court were 'frail' and 'fragile', but this girl was neither. She seemed strong to him, and she didn't look disgusted by the rather poor condition of his house.
"Oh, I've never seen Mallia! Could I get a look at it?" she went and walked around him, coming close enough to prove that she wasn't disgusted by him, but staying far enough away to give him some personal space. And she walked out into the front room, glancing around before she walked out.
There was a wooden table in the center, and to the left, from where she was, was a fire pit, some animal roasting there. There was another door, she saw when she turned around, and it was to the left of hers from there. It was rather small a place, and it seemed almost rugged, but she liked it.
"Your home is nice." she said as she walked out the front door, which was on the opposite wall as the room she had started in. And she stopped there, the door swinging shut behind her. The man ran to catch up with her. He found her staring at the river. It was the biggest river in the whole country of Nigaragi, and also the biggest on the whole continent of Tou Yii.
Kagome stared at it. It was beautiful, but something about the name twitched in the back of her mind. Mallia, Mallia, Mallai . . . It felt like she'd heard it before. "Mallia. It is the largest river on the continent," she could hear her professor saying, "and it is a fair ways into the country of Nigaragi. It is safe to assume that you will never see this river, as Nigaragi, as you all know, is the country of demons."
Kagome stepped back. Demons? Was she in the country of demons? Then, did that mean . . . She turned back to the man. Yes, there was something about him, and she knew he was a demon. But she still wasn't scared of him, which frightened her.
Meeting
The man smelled the fear leak into her scent when she turned to face him, and he saw her realize what this meant. But he didn't want her to be scared. "Now, wait-"
"You're a demon, aren't you?" she asked, surprisingly calm for how scared she smelled. All he could do was nod. He realized she was almost shaking. "You saved me from those bandits, and yet you are a demon yourself. Why? And who are you?"
"I . . . I don't know." he admitted. "But my name is Inuyasha. What's yours?"
His name was familiar too. Was he some wild mass murderer that even the King of Nigaragi couldn't control? Or some warlord that was planning to overthrough Hontiu? Why did his name stand out? The only reason demon's names stood out was for some violent act like that, or..."Inuyasha is the prince, the son of the demon king, Kanishiu. He is the second son, and his older brother Sesshomarou will gain the throne before he does." she said slowly, remembering her studies of the history of Tou Yii.
Inuyasha was taken aback by her recital of his heritage. "Yes," he said cautiously. "That's right; now what's your name?"
Kagome looked up. "My name is Kagome Higurashi, of the Higurashi Dynasty of Hontiu. My mother was Queen Anme, and my father is King Konti. My younger brother, Sota, he will become king when my father dies."
"Uh...that explains the dress...and the horse...and how you know my family background...But why aren't you running away? You're scared of me, I can smell it." He blinked. Maybe she figured if she ran, he would eat her, or kill her sooner. "I'm not going to eat you, you know."
"I know." she replied calmly. "And I'm not scared of you. That's why I'm scared. Because you don't frighten me in the least, and that's wrong. Well, you frighten me no more then my suitors, least." She shuddered. "But that's not saying too much."
"Suitors?" Inuyasha asked. 'Her father is trying to hook her up? '
"My father lined up suitors for me after Mother died. I don't know how Father figured I needed to get married. But he intends to get me hitched." Kagome shook her head, turning back to the river. Then she looked back down to her clothes, recalled the map of Tou Yii she'd been forced to study, and frowned.
"We're so far from the castle. Do you think you could take me back?" she asked.
Inuyasha's heart sank, but he wasn't sure why. 'She wants to go home? Back to all her suitors, I'll bet. She might as well be betrothed. Oh no! What if she already is! Wait, what difference does that make? I could still do whatever I want with her. Not that there's...er...anything I want to do...' "Why?"
"Oh, I just want to change clothes. These make me feel too nervous, like royalty will walk in any moment." she said, indicating her clothes. "I don't feel like going back. Not today. Too hectic." Then she turned to him and asked. "Do you mind if I stay here? I don't want to get stuck in that castle right now."
"Um, no, I guess not . . . " He smiled hesitantly.
"Good. Thank you." she said with a smile, returning her gaze to the river.
Inuyasha sighed. He didn't know what he was going to do with this one.
"Well, let's go." Inuyasha said an hour later. "We want to get there soon."
Kagome nodded. She watched in amazment as Inuyasha crouched down before her, and motioned with his hands for her to climb onto his back. She stared at him a moment, before shrieking, "Oi! No way! Gomen nasai, Inuyasha, but I am not going to get on your back!"
Inuyasha looked back over his shoulder. "Of course you are. Unless you plan to spend three hours hiking to the other bank of Mallia, and then six hours to the castle. I always thought humans were odd, but even you can't be that dense."
"Bu-bu-but!" she tried to protest, before giving up to the smirk that dominated the demon-prince's face. "All right, fine."
As she climbed on, she coudn't help but wonder why he seemed pleased that she climbed onto his back willingly, though grudgingly. 'Is it a demon thing, or an Inuyasha thing? God, I hope it's just him.'
Blushing, she ducked her head into his flying hair, and felt the grip he had on her thighs flex. But she couldn't see the purely ecstatic look that crossed his features.
"Are you sure you can just waltz in and come out without getting noticed?" Inuyasha asked her again. He was more nervous then she was.
"Yes, I'm sure." Kagome said again. "Sango knows I want to get out of the castle. She won't keep me couped up in this hellish place any longer then necessary."
"And we can trust Sango?" Inuyasha asked.
Kagome looked over to him, surprised. "Of course we can trust Sango! She's my best friend, baka, and she'd push me out the door if I tried to stay even though I didn't want to."
Inuyasha nodded resignedly, and hung his head. They were seated on the edge of the bank of Tiuitu, the river closest to the castle, behind the shrubbery. "Well, if you're sure...Let's go."
Kagome nodded, and mounted his back again before they lept over the river.
"Inuyasha," she whispered into the demon's ear. "Inuyasha, can you leap up to that tall tower? The one in the center, the biggest?"
A grumble can up through the back of his shirt. "Dammit, I can't fly! But yeah, I can get you up there. Somehow..."
Kagome was about to say she didn't like the sound of that, when Inuyasha took a flying leap from where they had been, at the base of the outermost wall, and hopped from the lower roof-tops to the higher ones, slowly making his way up.
"Just don't fall!" Kagome cried, clutching his shoulders.
"I would never!" Inuyasha called back, and soon they were on the balcony of the Central Tower.
Kagome slid down from Inuyasha's back, walking into her room. "Remind me never to leave my balcony unlocked at night again." she said, walking over to the drawers by the opposite wall.
Pulling out some material, she turned back and swished he hands at him. "Shoo, shoo. I've got to change, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha hastily turned his back to her, but when he heard the rustle of clothe, he turned back. He was lucky enough that she had her back to him, but he could see all of her gracious curves from his current position...
He had to fist his hands to physically restrain himself from running in and catching her by the shoulders, or hips...'What am I thinking? My god! But she's just so...ah...out of my reach.'
He turned his back on her again, plopping down onto the balcony, when he heard a slide as the door was pulled open. He glanced over his shoulder - careful to keep his eyes away from where Kagome was still dressing - and caught sight of a young woman. A growl began to form low and deep in his chest, until he heard Kagome's startled, overjoyed cry.
"Sango!" She ran to hug the older girl, and Inuyasha turned away again.
"Oh, Lady Kagome!" Sango cried. "When you did not come back this morning, the guard began to worry. And - oh! Kagome, who is that!"
Inuyasha twiched, and his ears flexed back towards them, making them fully visible to the intruding woman. "Oi, bitch, are you done yet?"
"K-kagome! There's a demon on your balcony!" Sango cried. Kagome sighed.
"Yes, Inuyasha. You can turn around now." she said.
Inuyasha did. "Boy, you're much more observant than the bitch." he said to Sango. "I had to tell her I lived on the banks of Mallia before she figured it out."
"Don't speak of m'lady like that!" Sango yelled. "Kagome! Why is there a demon on your balcony!" he said, turning to her lady.
"Inuyasha brought me back to get some other clothes besides the gown I was wearing before. He said I could stay in his home on Mallia until all this excitment is over." she said, walking slowly over to Inuyasha to drag him into the room.
"Sango, this is Inuyasha. Inuyasha, this is Sango. I told you of her, remember?" Kagome recited.
"I'm a demon, not an idiot." Inuyasha said, shaking his head.
"Same thing!" Sango hollered. Kagome put up her hands to keep the two apart.
"Sango, stop. I'm going to stay with Inuyasha until this business is over." Kagome said.
Sango looked at her, shocked. "But Kagome! It's your birthday! You can't just run out on this!"
Inuyasha turned to her. "It's your birthday? And why didn't you tell me this was why you wanted to stay away?"
"Ah, I didn't want to." Kagome said, turning back to Sango. "And of course I can. I'm going to. You tell them I'm with a friend, but don't say who. Tell them you don't know, it doesn't matter," she instructed, hoisting the yellow pack she'd packed her clothes in onto her shoulder, and walking over to stand behind Inuyasha. "Come on, Inuyasha, let's go."
Inuyasha smirked at Sango, and hoisted Kagome onto his back again. Then he leapt out the window and off the balcony.
