INUYASHA
There
was something about this one that I really liked, but I can't
remember what it was at the moment. Don't like the way I 'ended' it,
though...On second thought, that isn't so bad. Not for a story
ending, but as a chapter ending, it's fine.
Princess Higurashi
A young girl with a long, black braid down her back walked down the sidewalk with her coat slung over her shoulder. She was just going for a walk, calmly enjoying the bright blue sky and perfect weather. It wouldn't be so perfect for much longer, since winter was coming, but a girl could enjoy it while she had it, right?
She spotted a small, furry orange ball on the ground in the alley on her way home, and she watched it for a while to see what it was. The small thing looked like a ball of orange fluff, but a tail popped up as she heard a sneeze. The little thing shivered and curled in tighter on itself. Imeadiately her heart went out to the little thing, and she ran up to it. "Oh, oh, what's this now?" she asked it, picking it up gently.
The fuzz-ball rolled over in her arms, and she saw that it was a baby kitsune youkai, with a bushy orange tail and fox feet. Just a child, and - she put her hand to its forehead - it had a fever. It was wearing no more then a little old-style kimono, and it looked to shiver even in the comfortable air. It sneezed again, and snuggled into her warmth.
"Come on, now." she said gently as she headed in the direction of her house, tucking it farther into the folds of her loose shirt.
She burst into the back door of the house and ran down the halls quickly to one of the tearooms. On the right, on the right...her mother always used the one on the right...
"Mother, Mother!" she cried. "Oh Mother, you won't believe what I-"
She stopped mid-sentence as she opened the door. There, at the table, instead of her mother and brother, as she'd expected, was a young man with silver hair and a young black-haired woman who, oddly enough, reminded her a little of the woman in her mirror.
"Excuse me?" the woman asked.
She stepped back out the door, and stepped back in again. Yep, this was the tearoom on the right. "Gomen, I think I might be in the wrong house." The woman nodded, and only then did the girl notice that she looked upon her disapprovingly. "No, no, this is the right house..." she said as she saw the picture on the wall behind the two people. She had hung it herself. Then she realized - she had come in the back door, so her mother would have been in the left tearoom. "Gomen nasai, I guess this is the wrong room. I'm so terribly sorry. I came in the back door and got confused." She bowed on her way out, muttering as she shut the door, "I've lived here all my life, and I still get lost on my way to the tearoom..."
The young man watched her go. Then he stood up and opened the door to watch her shake her head and open the one across the hall. "Oh, Mother, you'll never believe it!" she cried as she shut the door behind her again. But this time he didn't go and open it.
"Ne, Kikyo?" he asked over his shoulder to the woman still sipping tea at the table. "Do you know who that girl was?"
"No, Inuyasha-sama, I don't. But she was mighty rude, barging in like that." Kikyo said, taking another sip of tea.
"She said she got lost, and she apologized, Kikyo. It wasn't on purpose, and she seemed sincere enough to me." Inuyasha said, shaking his head. "Besides, I think we just got to see the princess, and it's like an hour before we're supposed to."
Kikyo looked up, finally startled. "You think that young woman was Princess Higurashi?"
"Yeah, I do." Inuyasha said, leaning against the doorframe and still watching the door across the hall, where the 'princess' had left.
"But, Inuyasha! She was wearing jeans and a baggy red T-shirt! That's not what royalty wears!"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "'Royals' are just people, yah know. I wear jeans all the time. When I can, anyways." he said, looking down at his own white and gold kimono in disgust. "Or else I wear my good old Fire Rat Fur kimono. I like that better then this, anyways."
"I don't think that was a princess. Even a princess who despised dressing up as much as you do wouldn't go out in public in such a baggy shirt." Kikyo said, turning back, once again, to her tea.
Inuyasha plopped down across from her again. "I guess." he muttered, but he glanced back up at the door he'd closed. But I still think that was the princess...
"Oh, Mother, you'll never believe it!" the young woman who'd interrupted Kikyo and Inuyasha said, sliding into the room just as Inuyasha opened the door to the other. "Oh, you won't believe what I just did!"
"What, Kagome?" the pretty woman sitting at the table asked. A young boy was besides her, a tea cup in his hand, but his other hand was stroking Buyo, the cat, under the table.
"Well, I was so excited and I wanted to show you, but I walked into the wrong room." she said, blushing as she sat down at the table and filled the cup before her with tea. "I was so embarrassed." she confided in her mother.
"Well, what were you so excited about? What did you want to show me?" her mother asked.
"Well, look. I found this baby kitsune in the alley on the way back from my walk, and he looked sick. Can I help him get better?" she asked, holding up the feverish ball of fur for her mother to see. He was sleeping peacefully now.
"What's his name?" she asked.
"I don't know. He was asleep when I found him. I want to help him get better, mother, please? " Kagome begged her mother.
"All right," she conceded. "And unless he has a home to go to when he gets better, you can keep him and take care of him."
"Oh, thank you Momma. Now, who were those people in the guest tea room?" Kagome asked, settling the kitsune back into her clothes.
"That was probably Inuyasha-sama and Kikyo-sama." her mother replied. She always called others of a high order 'sama', even though only Kagome's father was higher then her. She was polite and considerate like that. "Inuyasha is the prince of Inunotaiyoshoru, and Kikyo is a servant of that house that he wanted to bring along."
"And what is he doing here?" she asked. She wasn't being rude - just curious. Higurashi-sama knew her daughter well enough to know that.
"Well, his father and your father are coming up with a treaty today. Our provinces keep getting into battles, but your father and Taisho-sama don't want to fight with each other anymore. Your father's great-great-grandfather and Taisho-sama's father were at war, and they don't want history to repeat itself." Higurashi-hime told her daughter, daintily sipping at her tea.
"What kind of a treaty will they sign?" Kagome asked.
"I don't know. It will most likely be permanent, though. Neither want a war, and I doubt Sesshomaru-sama or Inuyasha-sama want one, either. Sesshomaru-sama will inherit the throne from Taisho-sama."
"Well, Momma, I think I'll go to my room and give this little kit a bath, okay?" Kagome asked, standing up. She wrinkled her nose as she offered, "And I'll be in my ceremonial kimono in…"
"An hour." the young boy suggested.
"An hour." Kagome repeated.
"Thank you, Kagome." Higurashi-hime said with a small smile.
As Kagome stepped out of her tearoom, Inuyasha stepped out of the other. They ran into each other in the hall.
Kagome bumped right into his chest, and would have fallen down on her bottom had Inuyasha not caught her. She looked up into his brilliant golden eyes and blushed. "Ah...ano...Gomen nasai, again, Inuyasha-sama." she said, her arms clutched around the kit resting against her stomach.
Inuyasha set her on her feet again. "Princess Higurashi?" he asked, but it was almost more of a statement.
"H-hai, Inuyasha-sama. Kagome." She smiled. The kit in her arms rustled and drew her attention. "Shh, shh..." she murmured to it. Then she looked back up to Inuyasha.
"Excuse me, Inuyasha-sama. I'm going to my room to bathe this young kit. I found him in the alley on the way home, and that's why I was in such a hurry. He...well, he had a fever when I found him." she said as she rested her hand to his forehead again.
Inuyasha leaned over her to look at the kit. "Do you know anything about kitsune? Or about baby youkai in general?"
"Not much." she admitted. "Would you like to help me?"
Inuyasha shrugged. "If it pleases you, Kagome-hime."
Kagome blushed again. "Just Kagome, please." she asked as she turned to walk to her room.
"Sure. Kagome. You can just call me Inuyasha, then." the boy replied with another shrug. But while her back was turned, he couldn't take his eyes off her.
Gods, she's beautiful...But you don't like her like that anyway! And besides, she's a princess here, Inuyasha! Get your head out of the clouds! You may be a prince, but that doesn't change a thing! Do you know how many people probably fancy her? Besides, she could never be on the same level as you. As he watched her walk away, he thought, Of course not. She'd always be a league ahead of me...
"Would you stop that?" Kagome asked, glancing back over her shoulder.
Startled, Inuyasha blushed. "Stop what?" he asked as innocently as he could manage.
"Stop staring at me. You've been staring at me since I walked away."
"No I haven't!" Inuyasha replied hotly.
"Whatever. This is my room, anyways." she said, opening an ornately carved dark wooden door.
Inuyasha watched her walk into the room, and followed her. It was a lovely room. Hardwood floors, off-white decor with a soft wine tint to add color; a small couch, a window seat, a large bed with a curtain around it, a sheer and a silk layer. The pillows on the window seat were dark wine, the cushion pale pink. The blankets on the bed were white with off-white and pale wine offsets, the couch off-white. The drapes were also wine-colored. Over on the side was a basin of pink marble streaked with gold.
Kagome walked over to the basin and set the kit in it. "Inuyasha, could you step into the hall and ask one of the maids to bring up some water? I'd go and get it myself, but I don't want to leave him here."
Inuyasha shrugged, and stepped into the hall. He waited until he saw a group of maids come by (he knew from their French maid outfits), and then asked one for the water.
"Who are you?" she asked suspiciously.
"Inuyasha from Inunotaiyoshoru. My father is here now drawing up a treaty with Higurashi, right? Kagome-hime wanted some water, and asked me to ask you for it." Inuyasha replied.
"Oh, Inuyasha-sama. Gomen nasai. I'll get right on that." she mumbled, turning back down the hall to run.
Inuyasha smirked to himself. Humans.
